PARABLES>7&r 


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'rn  I  ^-'^^n 


V 


tihvaxy  of  Che  trheolo^icd  Seminary 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

Rufus  H.   LeFevre 

.5.KZ75 


PARABLES  FOR 
THE  PEOPLE 


The  parables  of  Jesus  were  neither  deliberate 
viystifications,  nor  idle  intellectual  conceits,  nor 
mere  literary  products  of  cesthetic  taste  ;  they  were 
the  utterances  of  a  sorrowful  heart.  And  herein 
lies  their  chief  rharm :  not  in  the  doctrine  they 
teach,  though  that  is  loth  interesting  and  impor- 
tant;  not  in  their  literary  beauty,  though  that  is 
great ;  but  in  the  sweet,  delicate  odor  of  human 
pathos  that  breathes  from  them  as  from  Alpiyie 
wild  Jlowers. 

— BRUCE. 


By  Lawrence  Keister;  D.D. 


Nineteen  Hundred  and  Seven 

Press  of  United  Brethren  Publishing  House 

Dayton,  Ohio 


Copyright,  1907 

Lawrence  Keister,  D.D. 

Alt.  Pleasant,  Pa. 


KnttoDuction 

The  camel  that  gets  permission  to  put  his  nose 
into  his  master's  tent — not  in  the  fable,  but  in  our 
real  rushing  modern  life — and  without  further  ado 
works  his  whole  body  in,  to  the  discomfort  and 
perhaps  the  discomfiture  of  the  rightful  occupant, 
might  be  called  by  a  half  dozen  familiar  names, 
business,  sports,  the  club,  fashion,  society,  etc.,  and 
every  man  and  woman  might  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected to  know  the  name  of  his  or  her  camel. 

The  intruder  takes  too  large  a  share  of  the  room 
for  himself,  leaves  too  little  for  his  master,  and 
often  little  or  none  at  all  for  religious  life,  spir- 
itual culture,  and  personal  ministry  in  behalf  of 
others,  which  are  all  essential  to  a  healthful, 
happy  life. 

Certain  evils  are  said  to  work  their  own  cure, 
but  it  may  be  noticed  that  the  cure  is  apparent 
rather  than  real,  since  evil  never  puts  good  in  its 
place,  but  only  offers  a  new  form  of  self-indulgence 
when  an  old  one  has  lost  its  attraction. 

The  camel  always  manages  to  assume  the  aspect 
of  a  friend,  or  even  claims  the  right  to  govern  the 
man  and  drive  out  every  other  claimant  to  his 
place.  Only  when  men  become  burdened  with  the 
camel's  company  do  they  really  remember  that  he 
is  an  intruder,  that  there  is  other  company  for 
them,  that  they  are  or  can  be  worthy  of  the  other 

ill 


101 


Introduction 

company,  and  that  the  other  is  very  much  better 
than  that  of  the  camel. 

When  the  angels  sang  the  advent  anthem  above 
the  manger-cradle  of  the  infant  Christ  in  the  hear- 
ing and  in  the  language  of  the  shepherds,  they 
rendered  a  real  service  to  mankind.  God  had  come 
closer  to  man  than  ever  before,  and  this  great  his- 
toric fact,  this  supreme  religious  truth,  was 
worthy  to  be  celebrated  in  song: 

Glory  to  God  in  the  highest, 

And  on  earth,  peace  among  men  in  whom  he  is 
well  pleased. 

Two  worlds  were  interested,  and  each  had  its  ap- 
propriate part,  angels  being  permitted  to  sing 
aloud  while  men  listened  in  adoration. 

Citizens  of  the  invisible  world  bore  witness  to 
citizens  of  the  visible  concerning  the  Christ.  They 
declared  his  presence,  the  closer  union  of  God  with 
man  and  world  with  world.  The  invisible  and  the 
visible,  God  and  man,  should  no  longer  stand  apart 
in  the  minds  of  men,  since  these  are  brought  to- 
gether in  the  person  of  the  Christ,  the  union  ap- 
pearing even  in  his  words  and  works,  and  neither 
being  plain  and  rational  on  any  other  basis. 
Henceforth  the  contrast  and  the  conflict  in  the  soul 
and  in  society  is  faith  and  unbelief,  while  the  har- 
mony of  the  soul  and  of  society  arises  by  means  of 
the  union  of  man  with  God,  the  visible  with  the 
invisible, 

A  fact  like  this  deserves  a  place  in  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  men,  and  fairly  demands  the  very  first 
place.  If  the  Christ  claims  much,  his  claim  is  only 
in  keeping  with  his  character.  If  he  asks  admis- 
sion into  the  heart  to  take  control,  his  presence 

iv 


hitroduction 

works  no  hardship.  He  never  comes  like  the  camel, 
but,  like  a  guest,  must  be  invited  and  welcomed. 
What  if  he  undertakes  to  govern  our  conduct  and 
form  our  character;  what  if  he  is  the  soul  of  our 
morality  and  the  heart  of  our  religion;  what  if  he 
shapes  our  theology  and  our  philosophy?  We  have 
suffered  no  loss  without  a  far  greater  gain,  and 
silently  and  yet  effectively  the  process  of  our  re- 
demption goes  on.  The  angels'  anthem  is,  as  it 
was,  for  human  ears  and  hearts,  and  the  need  of 
the  hour  will  always  be  the  acceptance  of  the 
Christ,  visible  and  invisible,  in  the  fullness  of  his 
life  and  wisdom  and  power.  As  an  aid  to  men  in 
the  common  walks  of  life  to  know  the  Christ  in  his 
simplicity,  and  continually  to  look  to  him  as  the 
soul's  true  Creator,  this  little  volume  has  been 
written,  and  in  so  far  as  it  serves  this  end,  its 
work  will  be  accomplished. 

Jesus  said  to  his  disciples,  "As  the  Father  hath 
sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you."  In  his  relation  to 
them  he  copies  the  divine  method  as  applicable  to 
human  life.  The  Christ  was  sent  from  above  down 
to  the  very  level  of  human  life  in  order  to  lift  it  up 
to  the  level  of  his  own,  in  its  perfect  humanity  and 
its  perfect  harmony  with  God.  By  patient  minis- 
try and  by  perfect  self-surrender  to  the  will  of  God 
he  established  that  will  as  the  law  of  human  life, 
the  principle  of  man's  ordinary  activity,  and  also 
of  his  present  and  future  development. 

His  disciples  are  commanded  to  claim  and  re- 
ceive the  Spirit  of  God  as  the  only  means  by  which 
they  can  have  pure  motives,  right  methods,  and 
true  manhood.  Henceforth  life  and  death  are  alike 
to  them  in  this  respect,  that  both  are  accepted  as 
unto   the   Lord.      In   silence   and    in    speech   they 


Introduction 

should  never  step  off  this  basis  and  sink  to  the 
level  of  the  irreligious  and  the  worldly.  They  see 
God  in  nature  and  can  speak  in  parables.  They  see 
him  in  providence  and  discover  the  principles  of 
divine  action.  They  see  him  in  the  Christ  and  are 
satisfied  with  this  revelation  of  the  person  of  deity. 
The  visible  and  the  invisible  are  no  longer  held 
apart  in  their  thoughts  as  mutually  destructive, 
but  are  brought  together  to  form  the  complete 
whole  in  which  the  Christian  lives  as  his  world. 
In  this  entire  realm  the  Christ  has  manifested 
himself  as  God  and  also  as  man,  and  hence  the 
Christian  is  to  occupy  both  according  to  the  prayer 
and  promise,  "I  will  that  where  I  am,  there  my 
disciples  may  be  also."  While  each  Christian  can 
and  must  form  his  own  views,  he  is  not  at  liberty 
to  step  outside  of  Christ's  world  or  try  to  limit 
himself  to  either  part  alone.  He  belongs  to  both 
the  visible  and  the  invisible,  and  has  publicly  con- 
fessed this  article  of  his  creed.  He  must  be  judged 
by  this  standard.  His  is  the  life  of  faith,  being 
named  from  the  principal  element.  He  shows  his 
faith  by  his  works,  ministering  to  mankind  and 
glorifying  God  in  the  highest  place  in  his  own 
heart,  and  thus  prepares  himself  to  glorify  God  in 
his  heaven,  which  is  man's  heaven  also,  now  in 
spiritual  fellowship  and  Christian  hope,  and  then 
in  personal  presence  and  possession. 

If  men  find  that  it  costs  a  mighty  effort  to  drive 
the  camel  out  in  order  to  bring  the  Christ  in,  they 
soon  discover  that  it  is  worth  all  its  costs,  and  that 
every  man  really  chooses  his  own  company,  the 
camel  or  the  Christ. 


VI 


My  World 


All  men  walk  upon  the  same  earth,  yet  each  one 
lives  his  own  life  in  his  own  world.  He  has  his 
own  idea  of  happiness  and  usefulness  and  great- 
ness; exercises  his  power  of  choice,  selects  his  sur- 
roundings according  to  his  tastes,  and  shapes  them, 
if  possible,  to  his  mind.  He  works  his  world  over 
in  his  thoughts,  the  result  appearing  in  his  choice 
of  associates  and  employment,  his  love  of  nature 
or  lack  of  it,  his  use  or  misuse  of  religious  agencies 
and  institutions.  He  finds  that  thoughts,  and  in  a 
measure  things  become  his  by  sympathetic  in- 
terest, by  cultivating  his  capacity  to  appreciate 
them,  in  a  word,  by  giving  them  a  place  in  his 
life.  Even  truth  itself  becomes  his  by  giving  him- 
self to  the  truth. 


9@p  ^KBotlD 

What  a  pretty  little  goldfish!  Its  beauty 
shows  to  perfection  in  its  glass  globe,  where 
every  shining  scale  and  every  motion  is  visible. 
It  is  not  a  freak,  with  clumsy  fin  and  tail,  but 
jnst  an  ordinary  fish  of  its  kind  whose  beauty 
is  not  in  its  oddity.  No  wonder  it  is  kept  in 
the  sitting-room  as  an  ornament  and  an  object 
of  interest. 

But  really  it  does  not  seem  to  be  quite  itself, 
for  it  seems  to  know  it  is  not  at  home.  From 
the  inside,  the  glass  globe  must  be  a  sort  of 
glass  prison,  and  the  walls  of  that  room  prison 
walls,  and  so  the  little  creature  often  appears 
homesick.  How  very  unnatural  to  be  hemmed 
in  on  all  sides  and  be  on  exhibition  all  day, 
when,  by  nature,  it  prefers  perfect  freedom,  and 
a  hiding-place  safe  alike  from  danger  and 
inquisitive  eyes. 

Its  present  domicile  is  not  constructed  with 
reference  to  its  own  nature  alone, — it  loves 
fresh  water  and  sand  and  mud  and  growing 
vegetation, — but  rather  with  reference  to  ours, 

9 


Parables  for  the  People 

and  this  new  or  double  principle  makes  the 
mischief  for  our  little  protege.  The  little  thing 
might  lose  heart  and  courage  for  life  as  it 
moves  about  in  its  little  glass  house  and  hardly 
knows  what  to  do  next.  It  must  seem  like  an 
age,  if  it  remembers,  since  it  had  one  real  good 
swim  in  the  pond  where  it  was  hatched  and 
raised.  But  now  the  ends  of  life  for  it  are  com- 
pletely changed,  and  it  can  hardly  be  expected 
to  be  magnanimous  enough  to  enter  into  sym- 
pathy with  the  design  of  its  jailer,  or  owner, 
if  you  prefer,  and  be  satisfied  to  be  seen.  It 
may  love  appreciation, — we  all  do, — but  appre- 
ciation, real  appreciation,  sincere  and  sym- 
pathetic, seeks  its  object  at  its  best,  and  that 
may  be  the  reason  nature  is  so  broad  in  its 
expanse  and  so  varied  in  its  aspects,  giving 
every  living  thing  a  fair  chance  to  make  the 
most  of  itself. 

In  this  little  manufactured  world  there  is  so 
little  space  and  so  little  variety  and  so  very 
little  the  occupant  can  do  as  compared  with 
its  capacity  for  action.  It  looks  lonely,  and  no 
doubt  because  it  feels  lonely,  for  if  there  is  any 
creature  that  loves  company  and  plenty  of  it, 
this  little  goldfish  is  the  one.  To  add  one  or 
two  or  half  a  dozen  companions  never  seems  to 
relieve  the  situation  materially,  for  they  never 
grow,  never  breed,  and  never  spawn  in  close 

10 


My  World 

confinement.  As  well  have  a  single  one  and 
generously  confer  upon  it  every  inch  of  the 
limited  space  and  every  bit  of  the  admiration 
offered  in  that  home.  But  just  to  think  of 
it — solitary  confinement  for  such  a  social 
nature!  Why,  if  it  could  weep  there  in  the 
water  that  would  be  some  slight  relief,  if  it 
were  not  then  under  the  necessity  of  drinking 
its  own  little  tears. 

Of  course,  water  is  the  natural  element  of 
the  goldfish,  but  there  is  not  enough  of  it  in 
the  glass  globe  to  make  effort  worth  while. 
There  is  scarcely  enough  to  afford  a  real  fresh 
drink  for  one  hour  in  the  twenty-four,  to  say 
nothing  of  a  fine  swimming  course  with  the 
sweet  sense  of  overcoming  a  resisting  current 
and  rushing  over  rocks  and  pebbles  and  un- 
counted sands.  And  so  it  quietly  drinks  its 
little  pool  over  and  over  again  and  seems  to 
lose  the  inspiring  sense  of  liberty  with  which 
nature  endowed  it,  but  which  may  only  await 
an  opportunity  to  assert  itself  once  more.  Per- 
haps its  slow  and  measured  movements  and  its 
premature  death  are  its  silent  protest  against 
man's  attempt  to  domesticate  it,  or  even  its 
noble  appeal  in  behalf  of  the  rest  of  its  race, 
that  they  at  least  may  be  spared  this  burden- 
some captivity.  Those  shining  scales,  bright 
like  silver  or  burnished  like  gold,  and  that  sym- 

11 


Parables  for  the  People 

metrical  form,  so  lithe  and  yet  so  graceful, 
please  the  ordinary  eye  and  appeal  to  the  most 
cultured  sesthetic  taste,  but  the  little  creature 
itself  mutely  appeals  to  the  liberty-loving  mind 
even  if  we  deny  to  it  the  brave  sentiment  of 
patriotism. 

II. 

That  great  bowl,  scooped  out  of  the  earth 
and  rock  and  filled  to  the  brim  with  clear,  cool 
water  boiling  up  from  beneath,  is  a  natural 
curiosity.  No  stagnant  pool  is  that,  with  weeds 
and  slime  about  the  edges  and  a  green  scum 
on  the  surface,  but  a  little  inland  lake  stirring 
like  a  teakettle  at  212°  Fahrenheit.  We  won- 
der where  all  that  water  comes  from,  and  are 
reminded  of  the  tiny  spring  from  which  we 
drank  in  childhood,  as  some  wild  animal  might 
h^,  e  done,  only  this  one  before  us  here  among 
the  Alleghenies  is  large  enough  to  water  a  regi- 
ment. A  stream  that  disappears  half  a  mile 
away  reappears  at  this  spot  as  a  sort  of  surprise. 
The  blue  sky  bends  above  us  and  the  warm  sum- 
mer sun  invites  the  little  fish  to  play  on  the 
surface  of  this  interesting  and  ornamental  piece 
of  nature's  handiwork. 

They  come  in  companies  and  easily  classify 
themselves  on  the  principle  of  size  and  social 

12 


My  World 

relations.  They  seem  to  enjoy  being  agree- 
able. Their  little  heads  all  point  the  same 
way,  and  each  has  about  the  same  space  for  his 
own  personal  convenience.  They  are  orderly 
little  fellows,  if  not  really  systematic.  Active 
and  alert,  they  appear  and  disappear  and  seem 
to  enjoy  to  the  utmost  their  lovely  home,  the 
fresh  water,  the  blue  sky,  and  the  warm  sun, 
and  are  perfectly  contented  and  completely 
occupied  in  their  individual  and  social  life. 
The  bird  of  larger  size  that  flies  close  above 
their  peaceful  habitation  awakens  the  sense  of 
fear,  and  they  sink  a  little  lower  or  scurry 
away  pell-mell  in  search  of  their  well-known 
hiding-places. 

Such  is  their  little  world  scooped  out  of  the 
earth  and  joined  to  the  Juniata  by  that  rapid 
little  rivulet  which  hurries  over  the  rocks  and 
leads  the  way  to  the  Susquehanna  and  '^e 
waters  of  all  the  seas.  No  difference  how  little 
their  world  may  be,  it  is  a  legitimate  part  of  a 
greater,  even  if  these  little  fellows  do  not  know 
it.  Xo  difference  if  they  do  not  like  the  taste 
of  salt  water  and  are  not  quietly  discussing  a 
trip  to  foreign  parts.  The  ocean  is  a  necessary 
part  of  their  world  because  it  is  the  receptacle 
of  the  great  river,  the  river  is  the  combination 
of  little  streams,  and  the  little  streams  are  the 
condensed  moisture  borne  by  the  clouds  from 

13 


Parables  for  the  People 

the  ocean.  The  whole  system,  with  all  its  ac- 
companying machinery,  is  required  to  produce 
this  circulation.  It  is  nature's  way  of  provid- 
ing fresh  water  for  these  little  fish,  which  have, 
somehow  or  other,  become  the  subject  of  our 
thought  and  which  we  discover  are  the  center 
of  a  little  universe  that,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, is  all  their  own.  If  we  are  thoughtful 
and  reverent  we  can  enter  their  world,  observe, 
if  not  really  share  their  happiness  with  them, 
for  a  little  while  at  least,  and  then  respectfully 
return  to  our  own  place.  Given  that  these  little 
fellows  are  to  live,  they  must  have  a  world  to 
live  in,  and  what  their  life  requires  nature 
freely  accords  as  an  act  of  duty  or  of  grace, 
and  whoever  will  may  decide  which.  One  thing 
is  perfectly  plain,  and  that  is  these  little  fish 
look  quite  contented  in  the  home  provided  for 
them  by  nature. 

III. 

As  the  divinely  appointed  lord  of  creation, 
man  is  permitted  to  bring,  golden  carp  from 
their  primitive  home  in  China.  Because  they 
are  beautiful  and  because  they  are  tenacious  of 
life,  he  exercises  this  right,  but  as  an  intelli- 
gent and  kind-hearted  sovereign,  he  might  be 
expected  not  to  impose  any   other  conditions 

14 


My  World 

on  the  little  creatures  than  those  assigned  by 
nature.  The  little  fish  is  not  the  only  sufferer 
at  his  hands,  but  the  little  bird,  and  even  the 
big  horse  must  lose  a  part  of  his  tail  to  please 
his  master.  Even  men  are  made  to  share  the 
consequences  of  his  readjusting  of  the  universe, 
and,  most  wonderful  of  all,  he  is  himself  in- 
cluded in  the  common  lot  of  becoming  the  slave 
of  his  own  customs,  which  all  goes  to  show  that 
he  is  a  little  warped.  There  is  a  twist  some- 
where. He  is  not  quite  level  or  not  quite 
plumb,  which  is  only  a  different  way  of  saying 
the  same  thing,  for  each  test  is  an  appeal  to 
the  law  of  gravity.  When  a  man  actually 
thinks  that  any  other  condition  and  any  other 
course  is  better  for  him  than  the  one  marked 
out  by  the  law  of  G-od,  and  acts  accordingly, 
then  he  must  have  a  wrong  notion  of  the  true 
environment  of  a  spiritual  being,  who  is  de- 
signed to  be  free  and  also  worthy.  A  man  may 
make  a  glass  prison  out  of  his  personal  habits^ 
his  business  enterprises  and  connections,  or  the 
social  customs  of  his  community,  and  under- 
take to  live  therein,  but  he  is  far  better  off  in 
the  wider  world  of  divine  law  and  divine  light. 
The  blue  sky  is  the  best  roof  above  us;  the 
distant  horizon  is  the  only  wall  God  has  raised 
to  limit  us,  and  this  recedes  at  our  approach, 
and   our   minds,    free   and    unlimited   by   the 

15 


Parables  for  the  People 

bounds  set  for  the  body,  push  out  into  open 
space  to  consider  planet  and  star.  Our  spirits 
claim  other  spirits,  and  God,  who  is  a  spirit, 
as  the  answering  other  to  our  own. 

The  real  value  of  possession  is  use — in  the 
industrial  sense  as  the  farmer  owns  his  plow, 
and  in  the  commercial  sense  as  the  borrower 
owns  the  money  intrusted  to  him,  and  in  the 
aesthetic  sense  as  the  artist  owns  the  beauty  of 
landscape  and  waterfall,  and  in  the  religious 
sense  as  the  devout  soul  claims  the  beauty  of 
the  Lord  our  God  and  prays  that  it  may  be 
upon  him.  And  so  it  appears  that  every  man 
can  own  the  whole  world  if  he  knows  how,  or 
rather  if  he  has  the  capacity  for  it  all. 

The  rainbow  I  see  is  mine,  for  no  other  eye 
sees  this  identical  one,  because  no  other  eye  is 
just  where  mine  is,  and  so  no  other  can  see  the 
colored  reflection  of  light  from  the  same  drops 
of  falling  Avater.  In  nature,  as  in  grace,  God 
*T5an  exalt  the  individual  man  without  fostering 
a  selfish  and  offensive  egotism.  His  aim  is 
egoism,  a  noble  selfhood,  which  is  a  center  and 
also  an  object  of  love.  The  visible  world  is 
required  to  make  room  for  this  man,  and  even 
be  subject  to  him.  The  home  and  society,  the 
state  and  the  church  are  to  open  their  doors 
to  him  and  give  him  an  abundant  entrance,  for 
here  in  the  realm  of  human  life,  with  all  its 

16 


My  World 

complications  and  contradictions,  he  is  to  be 
shaped  into  what  he  shall  be,  if  not  what  he 
ought  to  be.  Here  he  is  to  enter  the  kingdom 
of  God  definitely  and  deliberately,  and  so  to 
indicate  his  purpose,  by  the  grace  of  God,  to 
enter  heaven  at  the  proper  time,  not  asking 
for  any  limitations  of  its  life  for  his  special 
convenience,  for  any  change  in  its  law  to  suit 
his  individual  character,  or  any  diminution  of 
its  glory  for  his  personal  accommodation. 

Men  who  throw  the  emphasis  on  ownership 
of  the  material  kind  are  limiting  their  life  and 
not  enlarging  it.  A  man^s  life  consisteth  not 
in  the  abundance  of  the  things  he  possesseth, 
but  in  answering  the  ends  of  his  being.  He  is 
not  built  for  the  glass  globe  of  custom,  but  for 
the  open  sky  of  the  divine  ideal.  The  rich 
man  has  lost  the  scent  and  pursues  a  phantom. 
The  poor  man  thinks  he  wants  a  share,  at  least, 
of  the  rich  man's  money,  and  forgets  that  he 
is  walking  over  and  past  his  true  treasure — "the 
poor  have  the  gospel  preached  unto  them." 
The  one  exalts  his  dear  dollars  above  his  dear 
life.  The  other  dreams  of  dear  dollars  and 
fails  to  profit  by  dear  duty,  which  brings  with 
it  the  sweet  assurance  that  he  who  seeks  first 
God's  kingdom  and  righteousness  shall  find 
that  by  divine  arrangement  all  the  needful 
things  of  life,  food  and  clothing,  shall  be  added 
2  17 


Parables  for  the  People 

to  liim,  like  a  lean-to  beside  a  building.  Each 
stands  at  the  center  of  -his  own  world  and 
thinks  and  acts  according  to  the  proverb,  "A 
man's  way  is  right  in  his  own  eyes."  Each 
makes  his  own  world,  using,  of  course,  the  mate- 
rials he  tinds  about  him.  What  if  this  is  the 
common  practice?  What  if  public  opinion 
sanctions  it?  What  if  it  is  even  necessary  for 
every  man  to  construct  his  own  world?  The 
possession  of  things  material  is  but  temporary 
and  without  reversion.  Every  acre  of  land, 
every  dollar  of  money,  and  every  ato^m  of  his 
body  man  surrenders  before  he  finally  leaves 
this  world.  The  organizations  of  earth,  how- 
ever great  and  powerful,  and  however  useful 
and  necessary  to  life  and  well-being  here,  suffer 
continual  change  and  await  their  final  disso'- 
lution.  And  so  we  conclude  that  this  world 
is  not  man's  world  after  all.  He  may  regard 
it  as  his,  and  the  only  one  he  has  or  ever  will 
have,  but  it  fades  away  after  it  has  furnished 
him  a  place  to  begin  life,  a  place  of  toil  and 
trial,  and  last  of  all  a  tomb,  and  in  his  empty 
palm  there  is  no  earthly  treasure  found  at  last. 
The  old  commandment,  "Thou  shalt  not  covet 
thy  neighbor's  house,"  remains,  and  a  new  one 
is  added,  "Covet  earnestly  tlie  best  gifts,"  which 
means.  Be  as  spiritually  minded  and  religiously 
rich  as  you  can. 

18 


My  World 

We  own  by  admiration.  We  are  strong  by 
gentleness.  "Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they 
shall  inherit  the  earth,"  is  a  practical  principle 
in  the  true  philosophy  of  human  life,  and  every 
man  must  accept  it  and  apply  it  if  he  is  to  be 
made  free  from  the  tyranny  of  custom  by  enter- 
ing into  the  kingdom  of  divine  law  and  divine 
life.  As  we  learn  to  love  the  sweet  scenes  of 
nature  they  are  ours,  and  as  we  comply  with 
the  behest  of  duty  we  hear  these  words  floating 
in  upon  our  hearts,  "Theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  The  man  w^ho  looks  upon  N"iagara 
and  sees  nothing  but  water  to  drive  turbine 
wheels  and  dynamos  cannot  possess  Niagara  ex- 
cept in  the  commercial  sense,  and  Niagara  can- 
not possess  him  in  the  magnitude  of  its  power 
or  the  grandeur  of  its  beauty.  The  man  of 
commercial  instincts  thinks  of  lighted  cities 
and  a  full  purse,  while  the  man  of  aesthetic 
taste  thinks  of  luminous  minds  and  a  love  of 
the  beautiful  satisfied  but  never  sated.  The 
way  into  the  heart  is  the  w^ay  out,  and  if  this 
be  kept  open  it  leads  into  the  Juniata  and  the 
Susquehanna  and  the  great  ocean  beyond. 
Henry  Van  Dyke  is  both  prophet  and  poet 
when  he  writes : 

Self  is  the  only  prison  that  can  ever  bind  the  soul; 
Love    is   the   only   angel   who   can    bid   the   gates 
unroll; 

19 


Parables  for  the  People 

And  when  he  comes  to  call  thee,  arise  and  follow 

fast; 
His  way  may  lay  through  darkness,  but  it  leads  to 

life  at  last. 


IV. 

The  easiest  word  in  the  English  language, 
or  any  other  for  that  matter,  since  it  must  be 
common  to  every  tongue  as  it  is  common  to 
human  life,  is  the  word  that  has  its  illustration 
in  infancy,  being  before  and  behind  the  word 
"mother."  Love  is  admiration  for  a  person 
because  of  what  that  person  is  or  may  be,  an 
admiration  that  rises  into  downright  devotion. 
No  wonder  it  becomes  the  liberating  and  lift- 
ing power  in  the  man  when  its  first  object  is 
mother  and  its  last  and  supreme  object  is  G-od 
as  revealed  in  Christ.  God  is  love  and  God 
is  free,  not  being  limited  from  without  but 
only  from  within,  and  very  wonderful  it  is  that 
he  offers  this  same  kind  of  life  to  men.  "Thou 
shalt  love,"  is  his  command  because  it  is  his 
ideal  for  men  who  are  just  as  slow  and  just  as 
quick  to  learn  as  they  are  to  obey. 

The  assertion  of  Jesus,  "Not  one  sparrow 
falls  to  the  ground  without  your  Father,"  can- 
not rest  on  appearances.  We  see  nothing  hap- 
pen when  the  sparrow  falls,  no  tremor  of  nature, 
no  recording  angel  to  note  the  final  catastrophe 

20 


My  World 

in  that  little  life.  His  assertion  rests  on  an- 
other basis,  his  knowledge  of  God  in  relation 
to  this  world,  a  knowledge  which  is  far  better 
and  more  complete  than  ours.  Perhaps  it 
wonld  modify  or  even  radically  change  our 
world  if  we  could  see  as  he  sees  or  even  believe 
him  when  he  tells  us  what  he  sees  and  knows 
to  be  true.  Old  things  might  indeed  pass  away 
and  all  things  become  new.  Right  under  the 
rough  husk  of  the  visible  we  would  discover  the 
invisible  and  eternal,  and  with  the  ardor  of  a 
supreme  affection  we  would  surely  claim  it  as 
our  own. 

Then  let  us  ask  again  the  question  of  those 
first  inquirers,  "Eabbi,  where  abidest  thou?" 
Listen  to  his  answer,  which  comes  as  an  invi- 
tation to  each  of  us,  ^'Come  and  ye  shall  see." 
He  leads  the  way  while  half  doubtfully  we  fol- 
low him  and  enter  his  home  and  his  world. 
The  dream  of  the  human  heart  becomes  its 
reality !  How  human  he  is,  more  human  than 
we !  His  sympathy  with  men  is  deeper  and 
wider  than  ours,  his  gentleness  and  his  faith- 
fulness transcend  our  o^vm  beyond  all  compari- 
son, for  they  correspond  with  his  power  of  will 
and  humility  of  heart.  He  is  true  to  the  law 
of  God  in  spite  of  custom  so  respectable  and  so 
imperious  in  scribe  and  Pharisee.  He  is  a 
man  and  not  simply  a  Hebrew,  and  he  is  more 

21 


Parables  for  the  People 

tlian  man,  a  fact  that  dawns  upon  ns  and  is 
attested  by  his  refining  and  uplifting  presence, 
by  his  delicacy  of  perception  and  his  sweep  of 
thought,  by  his  power  of  love  and  purpose.  We 
listen  and  look  and  wonder  and  begin  to  say 
within  ourselves,  "This  is  he  of  whom  Moses 
in  the  law  and  the  prophets  wrote."  We  identify 
him  to  our  own  satisfaction  as  the  fulfillment 
of  promise,  and  touch  the  throbbing  heart  of 
human  history. 

We  are  being  transformed  by  the  renewing  of 
our  minds,  and  our  view  of  things  is  changed, 
our  view  of  life,  our  view  of  God.  We  are 
transfigured  by  the  presence  of  the  divine  and, 
like  the  two  disciples  of  old,  we  forget  our  tem- 
poral surroundings,  fail  to  report  the  appear- 
ance of  that  humble  home  or  to  describe  the 
features  of  that  wonderful  face.  We  were  in 
his  world.  We  saw  him  and  so  we  saw  God, 
the  beatific  vision  of  earth,  to  which  we  are  all 
invited  when  we  have  the  faith  to  seek  it  and 
the  purity  of  heart  to  realize  and  enjoy  it.  We 
envy  not  Moses  at  the  burning  bush  or  the 
three  favored  disciples  on  the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration, for  he  that  sees  the  Christ  sees  God, 
and  that  is  the  vision  that  satisfies  the  soul. 
God's  world  must  be  very  great  and  very  beau- 
tiful, and  the  Christ  admits  men  into  this 
world  where  they  become  conscious  that  they 

22 


My  World 

are  no  longer  strangers  and  foreigners,  but 
fellow-citizens  with  the  saints  and  of  the  house- 
hold of  God.  "If  ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words 
abide  in  you'' — if  ye  continue  in  my  world/ 
says  Christ,  in  my  thoughts  and  plans,  my 
love  and  purpose,  with  my  ideals  ever  rising 
before  you  and  the  mighty  motive  of  my  life 
rising  up  within  you,  you  may  ask  what  you 
will  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you. 

Thus  we  dwell  in  his  world  in  fact  and  not 
only  in  fancy,  and  indeed  we  have  less  use  for 
fancy  the  more  we  realize  the  kingdom  of  God 
as  a  present  fact  and  become  the  objects  of  its 
beneficent  influence.  We  may  call  that  the 
Christian's  world,  whether  we  find  it  in  the 
heart  or  the  home,  in  social  or  industrial  or 
political  life,  in  church  or  state. 

V. 

One  world  may  lie  within  another,  as  we 
have  seen  in  the  case  of  the  goldfish  in  the  glass 
globe  and  also  of  the  minnows  in  the  mountain 
pond,  and  even  of  man  as  the  many-minded 
inhabitant  of  the  earth,  who  may  rise  up  and 
really  become  a  citizen  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
One  world  should  harmonize  with  all  others, 
the  natural  with  the  supernatural,  the  novelist's 
with  the   scientist's  and   also  the   Christian's, 

23 


Parables  for  the  People 

the  farmer's  with  the  business  man's  and  the 
poet's,  for  this  harmony  is  essential  to  the  com- 
fort of  the  respective  inhabitants  of  each,  for 
the  better  understanding  of  each  and  all  worlds 
by  men  who  are  accustomed  to  think,  and  for 
the  proper  appreciation  of  the  one  great  world 
which  we  may  call  the  universe  of  God. 

One  world  may  lie  far  away  from  another, 
or  it  may  be  sO'  near  that  you  can  step  from 
one  to  the  other,  changing  worlds,  if  you  please, 
by  a  turn  of  the  head,  the  glance  of  the  eye, 
or  the  transfer  of  attention  to  a  new  object  of 
thought.  Now,  we  may  be  in  one  world  and  a 
moment  later  in  another,  that  of  the  goldfish, 
the  minnow,  or  the  man.  Each  one  is  complete 
in  itself  and  also  a  part  of  another  and  a 
greater,  and  yet  each  is  very  different  from 
the  other  two.  One  is  unnatural,  one  is  nat- 
ural, and  one  is  supernatural,  including  all 
below  that  is  consistent  with  itself.  The  world 
each  man  conceives  and  constructs  centers 
about  the  supreme  principle  of  its  own  life, 
whatever  that  may  be,  and  thus  it  appears  that 
no  two  men  have  just  the  same  in  every  par- 
ticular. Indeed,  men  invite  each  other  into 
their  dwelling-places,  their  mountain  ponds, 
their  glass  globes,  and  even  seek  to  make  each 
other  over  in  order  that  they  may  fit  and  enjoy 
the  world  they  themselves  occupy.     The  made- 

24 


My   World 

over  man  might  well  rejoice  if  the  process  were 
always  conducted  by  one  who  was  greater  and 
better  than  himself,  and  hence  the  Bible  points 
to  the  Christ  as  the  one  who  is  best  able  to  do 
so  great  a  work.  As  a  man  made  over  by  the 
Christ,  the  Christian  finds  that  he  has  a  new 
principle  of  action  and  not  merely  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  old,  a  new  order  of  duties  which  is 
the  reverse  of  the  old,  a  new  basis  of  being 
which  is  the  Word  of  Christ,  and  so  the  Christ 
himself.  He  has  become  a  new  creature  with 
a  new  principle  of  action,  a  new  order  of  things, 
first  things  being  put  first  and  second  things 
second,  a  new  basis  of  life,  and  so  the  least 
world  in  which  he  lives  and  moves  and  has  his 
being  is  an  integral  part  of  the  one  great  whole 
which  the  Christ  has  named  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

However  great  and  good,  however  bright  and 
beautiful,  that  world  may  be  mine  by  my  own 
choice  and  by  my  personal  entrance  into  its 
charmed  circle  of  life  and  fellowship;  mine  as 
the  rainbow  is  mine  particularly  and  exclus- 
ively; mine  as  the  field  of  my  thought  and 
activity  and  attainment;  mine  because  the 
forces  of  the  kingdom  of  God  sweep  about  me 
in  helpful  cooperation;  mine  in  accordance 
with  the  promise  of  God  and  in  answer  to  my- 
own  earnest  prayer;  mine  as  really  as  I  myself 

25 


Parables  for  the  People 

am  real  and  my  own ;  mine  as  long  as  I  remain 
within  its  sacred  borders,  whether  that  be  for 
an  hour  or  an  age. 


2G 


The  Life  Worth  Living. 

Great  God,  to  Thee,  who  lovest  me. 

My  soul  I  freely  render, 
In  prayer  and  praise  through  all  my  days, 

O  Thou,  my  soul's  Defender. 

Thy  word  comes  down  to  be  my  crown, 

Thy  word  so  true  and  tender; 
With  hope  and  love  and  Spirit-dove, 

Of  life  the  gentle  lender. 

My  work  assigned  by  Thine  own  mind, 
Thy  work  so  sweet  and  saving; 

Thy  work  and  mine  Thou  dost  combine. 
The  work  my  soul  is  craving. 

Life  springs  again  in  many  men, 
The  life  that  Thou  art  giving; 

The  life  divine  for  which  we  pine. 
The  life  that  is  worth  living. 


27 


Some  Sign-Boards 


jFotegleam, 


Along  the  path  of  life  sign-boards  are  set 
which  men  must  learn  to  read  and  regard.  These 
silent  witnesses  tell  facts  the  traveler  needs  to 
know,  and  know  well  enough  to  use  for  his  own 
profit.  A  man  may  take  up  his  life  journey  as 
a  matter  of  necessity  and  not  of  choice,  which 
is  sad  indeed;  he  may  pursue  it  to  occupy  his 
time  and  see  the  sights,  which  must  eventually 
become  burdensome;  but  it  is  possible  for  him 
to  awake  to  duty  and  attain  in  moral  and  relig- 
ious life  till  life  becomes  interesting  and  abso- 
lutely inspiring.  Then  he  never  wishes  to  wander 
from  the  way  and  be  compelled  to  turn  on  his 
track  and  retrace  his  steps.  Onward,  ever  onward, 
is  the  motto,  and  duty  becomes  the  divine  direc- 
tion, freely  given,  to  prosper  him  in  his  journey 
and  aid  him  to  attain  his  journey's  end. 


30 


The  traveler  who  hires  the  railroad  to  carry 
him  has  an  easy  task  as  compared  with  the  one 
who  takes  the  public  highway  and  strikes  out 
across  the  country.  The  one  buys  a  ticket  for 
his  destination^  which  the  railroad  man  calls 
"a  point''  because  for  him  it  never  flattens  out 
into  a  place,  boards  his  train  with  a  hundred 
others,  and  settles  down  for  a  pleasant  journey, 
with  no  further  anxiety  concerning  his  trans- 
portation or  safety,  but  with  a  keen  desire  to 
"come  in  on  time"  and  no  apparent  effort  to 
make  friends  by  the  way.  The  other  becomes 
his  own  passenger  agent,  assuming  all  risks  and 
inconvenience,  and  provides  his  own  transporta- 
tion with  lines  and  whip  in  hand,  let  us  say, 
for  the  "auto"  has  not  yet  vindicated  its  value 
as  a  comfortable  means  of  travel  and  a  satis- 
factory method  of  observation.  The  country 
road  affords  sights  well  worth  seeing — hill  and 
valley,  schoolhouse  and  church,  our  civilization 
in  miniature  if  we  take  this  as  a  sample  of  the 
whole,  and  life-size  if  we  see  it  for  itself  alone. 
What  ruts  there  are  in  these  country  roads,  and 

31 


Parables  for  the  People 

mudholes,  too,  breakers  on  the  hillsides  and 
bridges  in  the  valleys  where  the  brook  finds  its 
way.  Here  we  are  at  the  crossroads,  (not  the 
editorial  we,  let  me  explain,  but  the  we  of  real, 
"iinofficial  companionship,)  and  must  choose  our 
road  as  between  a  possible  two  or  three. 

These  country  sign-boards  are  quite  inter- 
esting, if  not  very  artistic,  and  however  con- 
densed their  directions  they  are  always  profit- 
able and  often  almost  indispensable.  Every 
division  of  the  road  makes  them  more  interest- 
ing, and  we  are  glad  to  see  them  even  when  we 
are  sure  we  are  right.  The  traveler  might 
criticise  the  spelling  and  correct  the  estimate 
of  distances,  and  even  show  by  comparison  that 
they  do  not  fully  agree  among  themselves,  but 
he  never  on  these  accounts  rejects  the  directions 
they  give  by  deliberately  and  defiantly  turning 
aside  and  going  the  wrong  way.  •  The  mistakes 
are  not  inspired,  of  course,  but  the  good  will 
and  good  sense  of  a  very  ordinary  sign-board 
is  discoverable  by  a  very  ordinary  traveler.  As 
a  good  appetite  is  the  best  sauce,  so  a  real 
interest  is  the  best  instructor. 

Experience  is  a  very  great  teacher,  who  wisely 
requires  in  her  pupils  honesty  and  candor  and 
earnestness,  and  when  a  man  stands  at  the 
crossroads  with  no  other  counselors  than  the 
sign-boards,  bless  them,  he  is  likely  to  have  all 

32 


8ome  Sign-Boards 

three  of  these  virtues.  No  country  store  ?  No, 
not  at  this  one.  Nobody  coming?  No.  We 
look  about  us,  but  there  is  no  house  in  sight, 
and  not  even  the  grave  of  a  suicide.  What  a 
lonely  place !  Well,  we  can  have  it  all  our  own 
way  this  time,  unless  some  fairy  comes  under 
cover  of  approaching  darkness.  If  only  that 
sign-board  told  a  little  more,  or  we  knew  the 
roads  better,  or — but  here  goes,  this  is  the  best 
we  know  and  the  best  we  can  do,  and  we  proceed 
accordingly. 

Really  it  seems  as  though  we  were  here  once 
before.  There  is  something  familiar  about  this 
place,  or  it  may  be  just  a  repetition  of  a  com- 
mon crossroads'  experience?  Choice  is  a  fre- 
quent necessity.  No  man  makes  his  life  journey 
on  two  bands  of  steel,  nor  can  any  man  go  two 
roads  at  the  same  time,  either  physically  or 
morally.  Men  who  try  to  divide  up  and  go  both 
ways  in  morals  and  religion  end  up  by  discov- 
ering their  delusion.  "Here  lies"  might  be 
written  over  the  grave  of  many  a  moral  suicide, 
and  we  tread  lightly  at  the  crossroads  in  def- 
erence to  the  dead.  The  happiest  man  is  the 
one  whose  choice  shows  no  effort  at  division 
now  and  no  cause  for  regret  in  after  years.  To 
be  sure,  right  choices  cost  an  effort,  but  they 
yield  a  return.  At  the  crossroads  a  man  learns 
to  know  better  who  he  is  and  what  his  work  is. 

33 


Parables  for  ihe  People 

He  is  not  harmed  but  helped,  being  better  able 
to  read  the  next  sign-board,  to  decide  right  in 
case  of  doubt,  and  to  commit  himself  confi- 
dently to  the  right  road  while  as  confidently 
forsaking  all  others,  and  so  he  develops  the 
essential  qualification  of  a  good  traveler. 


II. 

The  lamp  of  ancient  design  has  become  the 
symbol  of  knowledge,  and  we  propose  the  mod- 
ern sign-board  at  the  country  crossroads  as  the 
symbol  of  choice  and  decision.  A  fine  basis  is 
thus  afforded  for  the  organization  of  a  new 
society,  the  election  of  a  new  set  of  officers,  and 
the  creation  of  a  new  kind  of  greatness.  Let 
the  first  article  of  the  constitution  be,  "The 
name  of  this  society  shall  be  the  Crossroads 
Sign-Board  Society  of  the  United  States  of 
America."  As  a  large  membership  is  needed, 
the  conditions  should  be  easy  and  inviting.  All 
dues  should  be  paid  promptly  and  bequests 
solicited,  as  it  takes  money  to  sustain  any  or- 
ganization, even  an  insurance  society,  especially 
if  the  relationship  of  the  chief  officers  be  large. 
A  beautiful  badge  in  the  form  of  a  button  with 
a  sign-board  at  the  crossroads  done  in  silver 
on  a  black  background,  or  in  gold  on  a  green 
field,  would  be  an  ornament  to  the  wearer,  a 

34 


Some  Sign-Boards 

gentle  reminder,  and  at  the  same  time  a  public 
profession  of  his  faith.  Daniel,  the  great 
Hebrew  prophet,  can  easily  be  claimed  as  one 
of  the  early  members  of  this  society,  for  it  can 
be  shown  conclusively  that  he  was  a  man  of 
wise  choices  and  worthy  decisions.  This  post- 
humous membership  conferred  without  the 
knowledge  or  consent  of  the  candidate  shows 
clearly  a  certain  appreciation  of  goodness  and 
greatness  on  the  part  of  this  society,  and  can 
be  referred  to  as  a  sort  of  moral  asset  and  a 
religious  endowment. 

Whether  such  a  society  could  do  more  than 
others  now  in  existence  to  aid  men  to  right 
choices  and  firm  decisions  remains  to  be  seen, 
but,  of  course,  its  efficiency  should  be  tested,  and 
we  should  optimistically  labor  for  the  best. 
Somebody  would  be  willing  to  become  presi- 
dent for  honor  or  pay,  and  all  the  other  offices 
could  be  filled  on  the  same  terms,  and  even  a 
respectable  number  of  men  and  women  could 
be  found  who  would  kindly  pay  their  dues  to 
support  a  cause  so  benevolent,  thus  giving  body 
and  bottom  to  the  whole  affair. 

Until  this  new  society  is  well  on  its  feet,  we 
shall  be  compelled  to  rely  on  the  ordinary  agen- 
cies— the  political  party  in  politics,  with  the 
aid  of  an  occasional  reformer,  the  beautiful, 
the  brilliant,  and  the  rich  in  society,  the  man 

35 


Parables  for  the  People 

of  affairs  in  business,  the  man  of  culture  in 
education,  and  the  man  of  God  in  morals  and 
religion.  Men  often  regard  morals  and  religion 
as  the  one  field  of  doubt  and  distraction,  just 
as  though  religious  truth  was  the  hardest  and 
not  the  easiest  kind  of  knowledge  to  acquire, 
even  from  early  childhood.  They  refer  all 
questions  to  the  intellect,  and  because  the  intel- 
lect cannot  answer  them,  they  conclude  there  is 
no  answer.  Were  religion  a  theory  only  and 
not  also  a  life,  their  expectations  might  be  real- 
ized by  this  process,  but  since  it  is  a  life  as 
well  as  a  theory,  another  faculty,  the  choosing 
and  doing  faculty,  must  be  called  to  the  aid  of 
the  knowing  faculty,  or  rather  the  choosing 
and  doing  faculty  must  act  the  chief  part  and 
have  the  knowing  faculty  as  its  handmaid.  Do 
the  next  duty  you  know  to  do  and  another  will 
become  plain,  so  that  you  can  never  get  into  a 
corner  with  no  duty  before  you.  That  looks 
like  a  sign-board ;  and  here  is  another :  Distant 
duties  may  not  be  clear  to  us,  but  present  duties 
are,  and  these  are  the  only  ones  we  are  called 
upon  to  do,  and  so  we  are  as  safe  in  our  moral 
and  religious  life  as  we  are  on  the  country 
roads  we  never  traveled  before,  and  where  we 
read  the  sign-boards  only  when  we  come  to 
them.  If  any  man  will  do  duty  he  shall  know 
duty,   and  hence   in   morals   and   religion  the 

36 


Some  Sign-Boards 

answer  to  the  question,  How  know?  is  the  one 
word,  Do. 

The  man  who  discredits  his  ability  and  his 
faith  to  do  his  plain  duty  may  yet  have  the 
faith  and  ability  to  try,  and  that  is  all  that 
is  really  required  at  the  start.  He  may  fail, 
but  his  failure  teaches  him  something  concern- 
ing his  ability  as  well  as  his  inability,  some- 
thing concerning  the  best  way  to  do  that  thing, 
and  a  second  trial  may  be  all  he  needs  in  order 
to  succeed  in  doing  what  he  really  could  not 
do  before.  At  first  he  had  faith  enough  to  try, 
but  now  he  has  enough  to  try  again  and  even 
enough  to  succeed.  He  may  pra}^,  "Lord,  in- 
crease my  faith,"  but  he  keeps  on  using  his 
present  ability  and  giving  his  faith  an  oppor- 
tunity to  grow  according  to  the  divinely 
appointed  method  of  increase.  Only  personal 
choice  and  decision  and  attainment  admits  any 
man  into  the  Sign-Board  Society  of  which  we 
are  already  growing  decidedly  proud. 


III. 


Men  are  unwise  as  well  as  willful  when  they 
quarrel  with  God's  sign-boards  and  lift  their 
wills  in  resistance  to  his  commands.  They 
would  find  it  very  dangerous  to  be  disobedient, 
if,  while  God  is  stronger  than  they,  he  was  not 

37 


Parables  for  the  People 

also  out  of  sight  better.  A  good  Christian  takes 
his  will  out  of  his  sins  as  a  good  business  man 
takes  his  capital  out  of  a  bad  investment,  or 
as  much  as  he  can.  The  good  man  invests  in 
his  virtues,  and  nothing  so  opens  his  eyes  and 
awakens  his  mind  to  the  true  and  beautiful  and 
good  as  perfect  obedience  to  the  teachings  of 
Christ  as  far  as  he  understands  them.  His 
meat  is  that  of  his  Master,  who  did  the  will 
of  God  and  always  seemed  strong  and  nerved 
for  duty. 

The  Christian  prays,  "Thy  will  be  done  on 
earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,"  thus  adopting  the  will 
of  God  as  the  law  of  his  personal  life.  This 
law  being  settled  from  both  sides,  by  his  own 
choice  and  by  divine  decree,  appears  well  estab- 
lished and  reasonably  reliable.  Then,  too,  if 
he  obeys  God's  will  in  all  things,  God  becomes 
the  sharer  of  his  acts,  his  responsibilities,  and 
even  his  enjoyments.  No  decision  is  his  alone, 
and  no  result  is  only  from  God.  And  if  he 
knows  that  God  bends  over  him  like  a  mother 
over  her  child,  he  will  waste  less  energy  in 
anxious  care  and  have  more  room  for  courage 
and  happiness.  If  the  world  has  never  been  dis- 
appointing to  him,  God  has  not.  No  chilling 
wind  of  doubt  ever  comes  from  that  quarter. 
The  divine  will  fits  the  human  will  in  its  needs 
and  ambitions,  and  the  human  will  fits  itself 

38 


Some  Sign-Boards 

to  the  divine  until  the  divine  will  is  done  on 
earth  and  until  earth  fades  from  view  and 
heaven  actually  appears. 

When  little  children  are  interested  in  the 
stories  of  the  "Bible,  is  it  because  these  narra- 
tives appeal  to  the  child's  imagination,  or  be- 
cause they  describe  real  persons  who  deserve 
sympathy  or  censure?  who  are  examples  of 
evil  or  good,  to  be  avoided  on  the  one  hand  and 
followed  on  the  other?  Older  people  may  find 
it  necessary  to  cultivate  a  taste  for  the  Word 
of  God  because  they  have  never  acquired  it,  or 
because  of  the  enforcement  of  duty,  which 
leaves  the  flavor  of  failure  if  not  of  fulfillment. 
The  sense  of  sin  is  not  agreeable,  'but  the  Bible 
awakens  it  not  because  it  is  unpleasant,  but  in 
order  to  help  men  to  the  sense  of  salvation 
which  is  sweet  and  satisfactory. 

Intelligent  people  read,  and  the  only  question 
is,  what  they  are  to  read,  papers,  magazines, 
and  books  being  offered  to  pld  and  young  and 
adapted  to  their  tastes  as  well  as  their  needs. 
In  some  books  there  is  a  bad  atmosphere.  It 
is  tainted.  -There  is  a  subtle  spirit  of  falsehood 
which  makes  the  true  look  false  and  the  false 
appear  true,  the  just  appear  harsh  and  the 
unjust  gracious.  In  other  books  there  is  a 
good  atmosphere,  fresh  and  fragrant  and  whole- 
some, reminding  us  of  pines  and  hemlocks  and 

39 


Parables  for  the  People 

winter  winds.  The  writers  are  not  hemmed  in 
by  the  hedge-fence  of  custom  or  the  worm- 
fence  of  theory,  or  hampered  by  little  personal 
conceits,  but  lead  their  readers  out  upon  the 
solid  earth  of  duty  and  under  the  open  sky  of 
truth.  The  thing  that  gives  consistency  to  a 
book  is  its  plan  secondarily,  and  primarily  its 
author,  whose  spirit  broods  over  its  pages  like 
the  spirit  of  God  in  creation;  and  hence  above 
its  pages,  above  its  plan,  we  find  the  real  con- 
stitution of  the  book  in  its  author. 

In  still  other  books  there  is  little  or  no 
atmosphere.  They  are  close  and  stuffy  and 
labored.  They  smell  like  an  unused  parlor  and 
look  like  an  ordinary  attic.  The  reader  is  in 
dread  lest  he  should  bump  his  head  on  the 
rafters,  because  the  writer  just  elbowed  his  way 
through  his  pages.  He  had  no  sweep  of  vision, 
no  satisfactory  system  of  thought,  no  soul  that 
could  envelop  you.  You  could  not  breathe 
freely  or  feel  at  home  in  his  chapters  because 
the  author's  world  was  low  and  narrow  and 
mechanical. 

The  best  book  ought  to  have  the  best  atmos- 
phere and  approximate  the  ideal  in  this  as  in 
every  other  respect.  The  atmosphere  of  the 
Bible  is  sweet  and  pure  and  satisfying  to  the 
honest  heart.  It  affords  breath  like  the  air 
and  vision  like  the  sun.     It  opens  the  heavens 

40 


Some  Sign-Boards 

above  us,  reveals  the  earth  on  which  we  stand 
as  our  present  but  not  our  permanent  home, 
and  even  shows  us  the  hell  that  yawns  beneath 
the  sinful  soul.    It  has  length  and  breadth  and 
height  and  depth,  enabling  men  to  see  what 
they  are  by  nature  and  what  they  can  be  by 
grace.     The  Bible  never  makes  evil  attractive, 
directly  or  indirectly,  by  accident  or  implica- 
tion.    It  is  the  book  that  makes  evil  look  bad 
and  good  look  good.    It  is  not  one  book  among 
many,  but  the  one  of  the  many,  never  being 
properly  placed  in  comparison  with  books  of 
human  authorship.     In  the  Nineteenth  Psalm, 
David  compares  the  law  of  God  with  the  works 
of  God  in  creation,  and  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  Jesus  says  the  law  is  not  worn  by  time 
like  an  old  coin  or  like  furniture  that  is  often 
moved,  but  that  it  lasts  like  the  heavens  and 
the   earth,    remaining    through   the    centuries 
without  the  loss  of  jot  or  tittle  by  use  or  even 
misuse.     As   God's   book  and   as   man's   book, 
having  lived  through  the  centuries  of  the  past 
and  having  brought  life  and  light  to  millions, 
we  must  look  upon  it  as  the  freshest  and  most 
vital  book  in  existence  to-day. 


41 


Parables  for  the  People 

IV. 

The  union  of  the  visible  and  the  invisible  in 
religious  life  is  marked  by  a  line  plain  enough 
for  any  one  to  see,  just  as  the  voice  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  loud  enough  for  any  one  to  hear. 
That  line  passes  through  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath, the  Holy  Bible,  and  the  Christian  church, 
all  of  which  belong  to  the  visible  and  the  in- 
visible. Men  can  see  that  line  on  the  calendar 
on  the  wall,  on  the  dial  of  the  clock,  and  in  the 
life  of  any  consistent  Christian  anywhere.  It 
falls  across  the  pulpit  in  every  Christian  church, 
the  center-table  in  almost  every  home,  and 
under  the  very  eye  of  the  devout  Bible  student. 
It  appears  wherever  a  Christian  church  is 
built,  wherever  a  congregation  meets  to  wor- 
ship God  or  even  two  or  three  are  gathered  in 
the  name  of  Christ.  That  line  should  never  be 
obliterated  by  worldliness  or  skepticism  in  any 
form,  but  should  remain  distinct  and  visible' 
without  the  aid  of  the  pretentious  medium,  the 
delusive  clairvoyant,  or  the  self-hypnotized 
Christian  Scientist.  No  man  need  remain  in 
doubt,  since  he  can  see  for  himself.  The  king- 
dom of  God,  visible  and  yet  invisible,  in  time 
and  yet  eternal,  is  with  us  as  a  fact  and  a  force, 
becoming  visible  to  men  wherever  it  touches 
and  transforms  them.     Its  power  is  apparent, 

and  the  cause  must  be  equal  to  the  effect. 

42 


Some  Sign-Boards 

God  has  entered  human  history  and  human 
life,  and  the  next  duty  for  men  is  not  to  explain 
away  so  great  a  historic  fact  and  so  vital  a 
religious   truth,    but   to   adjust   themselves   to 
the  one  and  make  room  in  their  hearts  for  the 
other.     The  man  who  stands  beside  the  Christ 
needs  no  commentary  on  the  words,  "Lay  not 
up  for  yourselves  treasures  on  earth/'  and  the 
man  who  does  not  stand  there  will  scarcely  be 
aided  by  any  explanation.     Men  who  minister 
Christ's  pardon  and  peace,  his  hope  and  happi- 
ness, think  less  of  lower  life  and  lower  minis- 
tries.     What   the   world   gives,   it   soon   takes 
back  again,  and  so  the  Christ  says,  "Not  as  the 
world  giveth  give  I  unto  you."     Every  dollar 
a  man  may  possess,  every  acre  he  owns,  every 
atom  of  his  body  belongs  to  this  world  and  stays 
right  here,  whether  or  not  he  bestows  it  by  gift 
or  by  his  last  will  and  testament.     "My  peace 
I  leave  with  you,  my  peace  I  give  unto  you," 
says  Jesus  as  he  departs,  not  recalling  his  gifts, 
but  intending  them  to  be  our  permanent  pos- 
session, like  other  gifts  of  God. 

The  great,  good  men  of  the  Bible  illustrate 
life  on  the'  basis  of  Bible  truth  and  teaching. 
Listen  to  the  brave  words  of  Daniel  the  man 
and  Daniel  the  prophet,  two  characters  blending 
harmoniously  in  the  one  person,  "Then 
Daniel  answered  and  said  before  the  king.  Let 

43 


Parables  for  the  People 

thy  gifts  be  to  thyself,  and  give  thy  rewards 
to  another."  What  a  fine  chance  to  become 
rich  and  great  in  a  moment,  and  fairly,  too,  by 
rendering  the  king  and  the  nation  a  trne  serv- 
ice. This  opportunity  of  a  lifetime,  just  what 
many  men  are  waiting  for,  sudden  wealth  and 
instant  greatness,  is  just  what  Daniel  did  not 
desire. 

But  who  was  this  Daniel,  that  he  could  afford 
to  reject  such  an  offer?  A  Hebrew  captive  in 
heathen  Babylon,  a  devout  man  whom  the 
angel  Gabriel  visited  with  the  most  gracious 
assurances  of  divine  favor,  a  man  of  noble 
birth  and  noble  character,  a  prophet  of  the  liv- 
ing God.  Not  every  man  is  as  wise,  or  knows 
that  devotion  to  God  rises  above  loyalty  to  an 
earthly  ruler,  or  believes  that  royal  manhood 
outranks  earthly  honors,  outweighs  earthly 
riches,  and  outlasts  both.  Not  every  man  who 
knows  all  this  acts  accordingly.  Only  Daniel's 
faith  makes  Daniel's  choice,  shows  Daniel's 
courage,  and  shines  with  Daniel's  constancy. 


V. 


The  good  man  is  the  man  God  can  aid  and 
use.  Instead  of  giving  place  to  the  devil,  he 
gives  place  to  God,  and  God  gives  place  to  him. 
The  only  place  the  good  man  really  wants  or 

44 


Some  Sign-Boards 

really  can  fill  is  the  place  God  gives  him. 
Seek  God,  and  let  honor  and  office  seek  you, 
looks  just  a  little  like  a  sign-board  set  by  Jesus 
at  a  certain  parting  of  the  ways.  Not  greatness 
of  place  and  power,  but  greatness  of  soul  sat- 
isfies a  soul,  and  for  every  great  soul  there  is 
a  place  as  great  and  an  honor  equal  to  its  worth. 
If  this  were  not  true,  the  friends  as  well  as  the 
enemies  of  God  would  here  find  an  argument 
against  him,  against  his  goodness  and  wisdom 
and  power,  against  his  kingdom  and  govern- 
ment, and  even  against  heaven  itself,  the  home 
of  the  good,  which  must  be  great  enough  to 
satisfy  the  good,  however  great  they  may  be 
or  become. 

For  the  good  man  there  is  a  habit  of  duty 
and  a  helpfulness  of  duty  and  a  happiness  of 
duty,  and  he  needs  all  three  in  their  proper  pro- 
portions in  order  to  relieve  and  finally  banish 
the  feeling  that  duty  is  too  heavy  to  bear.  Like 
gold,  its  weight  equals  its  worth,  and  no  man 
complains  of  the  weight  of  his  purse  or  delib- 
erately relieves  himself  by  throwing  it  away. 
With  even  less  reason  would  he  cast  off  duty, 
since  its  weight  measures  its  worth  to  him. 

Duty  is  an  old  word  too  little  known,  too 
little  cherished,  too  little  loved.  Libertinism 
on  one  hand  and  Puritanism  on  the  other  must 
not  be  allowed  to  chill  our  ardor  for  this  old 

45 


Parables  for  the  People 

word  which  we  should  ever  make  new  and  keep 
fresh  in  our  life,  individual  and  family,  social, 
religious,  and  political.  When  it  droops  or 
withers,  it  must  be  revived  and  kept  vigorous 
and  vital  in  our  morals  and  religion,  for  in 
turn  it  becomes  our  keeper.  Duty  is  the  high- 
way of  the  soul,  which  is  the  greater  traveler, 
excelling  the  body  in  its  movements,  however 
the  latter  may  be  aided  by  modern  means;  the 
door  of  admission  into  the  brotherhood  of  the 
spirit  where  companionship  is  sweet  and  true 
and  lasting;  the  password  into  the  society  of 
right  choices  and  noble  decisions  to  which  be- 
long the  good,  if  not  all  the  great,  by  their  own 
election  and  not  by  ours.  Duty  is  a  divine 
word,  written  in  the  Bible  and  in  the  heart  of 
man,  and  when  it  is  set  up  as  a  sign-board 
along  life's  journey,  the  honest,  earnest  traveler 
learns  by  happy  experience  that  it  marks  the 
tr3^sting-place  of  God. 


46 


The  Scepter  of  the  Soul. 

Say  no  to  thyself  somewhere, 
Lest  thou  never  can  say  thy  yes; 

And  lest  something  that  's  bright  and  fair 
Thy  spirit  may  never  possess. 

Say  no  to  thyself  just  there 

Where  thy  no  by  the  Christ  is  placed; 
For  that  no  means  a  yes  elsewhere, 

And  His  yes  by  thee  must  be  traced. 

Say  no,  to  say  yes,  dear  friend. 

That  the  Christ  you  may  stand  beside, 

\Vho  said  no  and  then  yes  to  the  end 
That  sinners  might  be  justified. 

Say  yes,  to  say  no,  dear  friend. 

Thus  to  drive  out  the  bad  with  good; 

To  thy  heart  the  desire  to  lend 

Of  Him  who  for  righteousness  stood. 


47 


Concerning  Conclusions 


jforeffleam. 

A  plan,  like  a  rose,  grows  on  a  stem.  A  man's 
purpose  is  the  stem  that  produces  and  sustains, 
gives  form,  and  color,  and  consistency  to  his  life 
and  character.  His  purpose  is  formed  in  his  own 
mind  and  then  projects  itself  in  his  plan,  which 
comes  back  to  bless  or  burden  him — for,  from  his 
own  creation  he  draws  his  inspiration  to  work, 
his  wisdom  in  adapting  means  to  ends,  and  his 
courage  to  carry  it  to  completion.  On  the  one  side 
his  plan  corresponds  with  his  body,  and  on  the 
other  with  his  spirit.  He  impresses  his  plan  upon 
the  materials  on  which  he  works,  but  as  it  rises 
before  his  mind  he  regards  it  as  his  ideal,  and  so, 
whatever  his  lot  in  life,  a  man  should  be  both  a 
realist  and  an  idealist. 


50 


Concerning  Conclusions 

Clear  ideas  like  clear  water  and  clear  air 
help  us  to  see  to  the  bottom  of  things  if  we 
are  looking  down,  and  to  the  top  if  we  are 
looking  np,  and  since  we  build  on  the  one  and 
in  the  direction  of  the  other,  we  need  a  clear 
view  of  both.  The  seed  the  farmer  sows  is 
the  bottom  for  him,  and  the  harvest  he  reaps 
the  top.  For  the  architect  the  finished  plan 
and  the  completed  building  occupy  these  re- 
spective places.  The  logician  has  premises  and 
conclusions  in  "the  orderly  procession  of  his 
thought."  The  Christian  accepts  the  Christ 
as  his  alpha  and  omega,  his  beginning  and  his 
end,  his  foundation  and  his  ideal. 

When  they  are  worked  out  to  their  comple- 
tion, conclusions  come  at  the  end,  but  if  they 
are  not  to  appear  accidental  and  undesirable 
they  must  begin  at  the  beginning  and  stay 
with  us  all  along  the  way.  In  fact,  they  do  this 
very  thing  when  we  are  not  aware  of  it,  or  not 
until  our  undefined  plans  begin  to  show  them- 
selves in  results.  Then  our  minds  may  clarify 
till  we  see  our  plans  like  we  do  the  pebbles  at 

51 


Parables  for  the  People 

the  bottom  of  the  spring  or  the  wandering 
clouds  in  the  sky.  Our  conclusions  are  the 
objects  of  our  thought  and  purpose  and  effort, 
the  plans  and  specifications  on  which  we  are 
working  consciously  or  unconsciously,  our  ideals 
in  process  of  realization.  No  wonder  we  are 
concerned  about  them  from  the  beginning  as 
well  as  at  the  end,  for  they  are  shaped  like 
crystals  in  solution,  and  once  forified  are  not 
easily  changed.  The  man  who  takes  good  care 
of  his  farm  or  his  business  may  discover  that 
he  has  neglected  himself  shamefully.  The 
woman  who  shows  up  well  before  the  glass  may 
be  lean  in  soul  and  angular  in  spirit.  Both 
may  make  the  sad  discovery  at  the  end  of  life 
that  they  have  reached  no  desirable  conclusion, 
while  both  can  testify  to  the  logical  outcome 
of  their  chosen  course  of  conduct. 

It  may  seem  like  a  heavy  burden  to  lay  upon 
childhood  to  anticipate  its  own  future  and  pre- 
pare for  it,  to  form  some  idea  of  itself  as  it  is 
and  as  it  shall  be,  to  dream  prophetically  of  its 
own  life  and  work  and  attainments.  This  bur- 
den may  appear  less  onerous  when  we  remem- 
ber that  moral  sense  in  childhood  is  clear  and 
convincing,  that  the  elements  of  worthy  life  are 
not  at  all  mysterious,  but  quite  plain,  appear- 
ing in  settled  precept  and  living  example,  and 
that  low  ideal  may  be  lifted,  and  impending 

52 


Concerning  Conclusions 

defeat  turned  into  glorious  victory.  The 
farmer  who  faces  the  soil  has  no  better  chance 
to  raise  a  good  crop  than  has  the  Christian  who 
faces  the  Christ  to  form  a  good  character.  We 
owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  King  Solomon  for 
this  sentence:  "This  is  the  end  of  the  matter; 
all  hath  been  heard :  Fear  God,  and  keep  his 
commandments;  for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of 
man."  This  simplifies  things  for  us  and  en- 
ables us  to  see  clearer.  It  says  something  that 
needed  saying,  and  says  it  in  the  best  way. 
"The  end  of  the  matter";  yes,  that  must  be 
considered  in  the  catechism  and  in  the  count- 
ing house,  in  the  kitchen  and  in  the  pulpit,  at 
the  end  and  at  the  beginning,  and  all  the  way 
through  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 


II. 

,  If  we  really  could  put  the  end  all  at  the  end, 
as  many  try  to  do,  what  real  connection  would 
the  end  have  with  the  rest  of  life?  What  con- 
nection would  it  have  with  the  mind  and  char- 
acter of  the  man?  If  a  bad  man  were  to  wake 
up  good  at  the  end  of  life,  he  might  easily  think 
he  was  not  really  himself  and  be  able  to  prove 
it.  Oak  lumber  grew  as  oak.  Conclusions  are 
in  the  warp  as  well  as  the  woof  of  the  fabric, 
and  so  a  man  must  learn  about  conclusions  very 

53 


Parables  for  the  People 

early  in  life,  and  even  before  he  knows  anything 
concerning  them  his  parents  or  guardians  must 
know  something  for  him. 

Some  men  have  more  right  decisions  at  the 
beginning  than  others  have  at  the  end  of  life, 
a  sort  of  self-imposed  handicap  for  the  latter 
and  a  very  important  addition  to  the  resources 
of  the  former.  Worldly  men  regard  themselves 
winners  in  the  game  of  life  and  not  losers, 
gaining  time  to  do  their  own  pleasure,  oppor- 
tunity to  use  means  destructive  to  Christian 
character,  and  as  a  sort  of  offset  relying  on  the 
good  Lord  in  a  general  way  to  save  their  souls 
at  the  proper  time.  Even  some  professing 
Christians  seem  to  be  infected  with  this  view, 
and  try  to  see  how  much  of  duty  and  truth 
and  righteousness  they  can  surrender  and  still 
be  regarded  as  Christians.  A  little  truth  may 
be  kept  to  make  much  error  respectable,  or  a 
little  error  may  remain  while  much  truth 
holds  sway  and  steadily  roots  out  the  remaining 
error. 

A  Christian  may  appear  to  be  weak  and 
emaciated,  and  actually  be  weak  and  even  feel 
that  he  is  weak  because  he  is  half  Christian 
and  half  worldling.  He  is  a  compromise  meas- 
ure and  not  an  original  resolution.  In  this 
respect  he  is  unlike  the  Christ,  who  is  the  way 
and  the  truth  and  the  life  without  ifs  or  ands 

54 


Concerning  Conclusions 

or  buts.  No  modifiers  are  needed  to  tone  down 
his  words  concerning  himself,  and  no  commen- 
tary to  tone  them  up  or  lend  them  meaning. 
He  came  to  save  men  who  need  to  be  saved  and 
to  present  them  before  God  without  spot  or 
wrinkle  or  any  such  thing.  A  great  task,  that ! 
but  he  is  working  in  earnest  and  with  great 
success  replacing  man's  weakness  with  his 
strength,  man's  compromises  with  his  com- 
pleteness. 

Christians  may  cavil  at  the  word  "perfect" 
found  in  the  Bible,  but  the  fact  that  Jesus 
used  it,  and  used  it  as  a  test  of  character, 
should  be  sufficient  to  impress  them  with  its 
present  worth  and  practical  importance.  Men 
apply  it  in  their  own  affairs  with  their  own 
interpretation.  They  have  their  plan  or  ideal, 
and  when  they  succeed,  even  measurably,  in 
working  it  out  they  are  willing  to  call  it  perfec- 
tion. They  apply  their  standard, — every  way 
of  man  is  right  in  his  own  eyes, — and  so  the 
Christ  applies  his  standard  to  the  Christian 
who  works  out  his  ideal,  and  no  better  word 
can  be  found  for  the  result  than  the  one  the 
Bible  uses. 

There  is  a  nice  way  of  obeying  the  Christ  in 
appearance  and  yet  doing  as  we  please,  of  fol- 
lowing him  and  yet  setting  a  limit  to  our  devo- 
tion, of  believing  in  him  and  yet  working  out 

55 


Parables  for  the  People 

our  own  ideals.  We  fit  our  salvation  into  our 
selfishness  as  a  useful  part,  affording  comfort 
in  sorrow,  security  in  danger,  and  respectability 
any  time  it  is  needed.  If  the  Christ  is  accepted 
as  our  personal  Savior,  it  is  only  to  save  us 
from  sins  we  select;  if  he  is  welcomed  as  our 
Lord,  it  is  with  the  reservation  of  the  veto 
power.  On  these  terms  our  Christ  becomes  our 
servant  waiting  on  our  wish  rather  than  our 
Savior,  our  assistant  to  aid  in  time  of  need 
rather  than  our  Lord.  The  Christ  of  God 
came  to  minister  and  not  to  be  ministered  unto, 
to  minister  to  manhood  that  the  sinful  and 
broken  may  be  saved  and  perfected.  This  is 
the  work  of  God,  that  ye  believe  on  him  whom 
he  hath  sent,  that  ye  respond  to  the  Christ  as 
one  sent  by  God,  that  ye  receive  him  as  his 
person  deserves  and  his  work  requires.  He 
comes  as  Savior,  and  so  men  must  be  saved  by 
him,  and  as  Lord,  and  so  men  must  be  ruled  by 
him.  The  fiber  of  the  Christian,  like  the  grain 
of  the  oak,  belongs  to  his  growth  and  reveals 
not  only  orthodoxy  or  the  acceptance  of  a  creed, 
not  only  respectability  or  conformity  to  custom, 
but  the  hearty  acceptance  of  the  Christ  as  his 
ideal  who  is  to  become  real  in  himself  to  the 
very  limit  of  his  capacity. 


56 


Concerning  Conclusions 

III. 

A  man  does  not  become  a  God  by  being  an 
imitator  of  God,  as  Paul  commands,  or. by  be- 
coming like  the  Christ,  as  John  declares  he 
shall  be  when  he  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  Man 
has  human  nature  and  not  divine  nature,  and 
Jesus  shows  us  that  human  nature  carried  to 
heaven  is  human  still.  When  the  Bible  tells 
us  that  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  it 
does  not  say  that  man  can  attain  to  deity  or 
take  the  place  of  God.  It  does  say,  by  the  pen 
of  Peter,  that  he  can  become  a  partaker  of  the 
divine  nature  through  the  promises.  In  fact, 
the  Bible  shows  that  he  is  not  a  complete 
man,  not  all  he  can  and  ought  to  be,  not  even 
on  the  way  to  become  his  best  until  he  is  a 
godl}^  man. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Bible  shows  that 
when  Jesus  became  man  he  continued  to  be 
God.  Possessing  both  a  human  and  a  divine 
nature,  we  call  him  the  God-man,  no  other  shar- 
ing his  place  with  him.  He  is  able  therefore 
to  act  for  both  and  to  represent  both.  In  his 
life  and  work  he  fulfills  the  law  of  God  as  a 
man,  meets  the  need  of  man  as  sinful  and 
salvable,  and  the  result  is  atonement.  In  the 
person  of  Jesus  Christ,  God  is  seen  in  loving 
relation  with  man,  and  man  is  seen  in  perfect 
harmony  with  God. 

57 


Parables  for  the  People 

This  great  religious  truth  realized  by  an  indi- 
vidual in  his  own  personal  experience  bears 
the  name  "regeneration"  when  we  call  attention 
to  the  new  life  of  the  believer;  "conversion" 
when  we  think  of  his  change  of  front  in  order 
to  his  change  of  heart;  "salvation"  when  we 
consider  his  rescue  from  a  lost  condition,  his 
restoration  to  a  right  life  and  the  favor  of  God. 
There  are  progressive  steps  in  the  salvation  of 
any  man,  but  they  all  lead  on  to  perfection,  the 
partial  pointing  to  the  complete  Christian,  the 
immature  to  the  perfect.  Full  salvation,  or  the 
complete  surrender  of  the  will  to  God,  may  be 
attained  slowly  through  years  of  personal  ex- 
perience, but  should  never  be  deferred  to  old 
age  or  regarded  unbecoming  to  the  young  man 
or  the  young  woman.  An  hour  approaches, 
however  distant,  when  a  full  surrender  of  the 
will  must  be  made  by  each  and  all  and  a  full 
salvation  realized,  and  that  hour  may  come  to 
the  young  as  well  as  the  old — then  shall  the 
spirit  return  to  God  who  gave  it.  If  full  sub- 
mission is  commendable  in  a  dying  hour,  and 
if  this  is  the  condition  on  which  the  dying 
man  receives  dying  grace,  of  which  we  often 
hear,  may  it  not  be  the  condition  of  receiving 
a  living  grace  equally  valuable?  At  any  point 
in  life  we  might  expect  to  find  above  an  open 
heart  an  open  heaven. 

58 


Concerning  Conclusions 

A  full  surrender  to  God  or  a  foul  surrender 
to  Satan  are  the  alternatives  before  every  man. 
Look  ever  so  carefully,  he  will  find  no  really 
neutral  ground  in  morals,  no  other  path,  no 
third  person.  Therefore,  men  must  know  God 
in  order  to  love  him,  and  Satan  in  order  to 
beware  of  him;  see  God  in  Jesus  Christ  and 
Satan  in  anybody  who  gets  between  them  and 
God.  No  one  has  any  legitimate  business  there, 
and  Satan  is  the  one  who  conducts  an  illegiti- 
mate business,  his  servants  sharing  this  with 
him,  as  the  servants  of  God  share  his  kingdom 
and  his  work. 

When  a  Christian  can  say,  "If  I  ought  to  do 
this  duty  then  I  want  to  do  it,"  he  has  within 
him  the  soul  of  obedience.  He  never  needs  to 
become  empty  and  hollow  and  finally  collapse. 
He  has  resisting  power,  and  the  one  effectual 
barrier  to  the  evil  outside  seeking  entrance  and 
control  is  his  will  to  be  good  sustained  by  the 
will  of  God.  This  arrangement  commends  it, 
since  a  man  should  always  have  his  will  with 
him,  his  will  to  resist  wrong  and  do  right,  and 
in  that  case  he  finds  God  present  and  in  full 
sympathy  with  him. 

Men  may  think  they  can  lift  duty  off  the 
basis  of  divine  command  enforced  by  human 
conscience  and  build  it  upon  personal  conveni- 
ence supported  by  human  custom.     This  home 

59 


Parables  for  the  People 

product  in  morals  and  religion  may  be  admired 
like  a  new  style  in  dress  and  even  become  popu- 
lar. We  should  not  forget,  however,  that  right 
and  wrong  are  not  engaged  in  a  little  game  of 
"pussy  wants  a  corner,"  each  changing  places 
with  the  other  at  the  first  opportunity  or  vary- 
ing with  the  change  of  public  opinion.  Our 
reason  and  our  conscience,  aided  by  the  prom- 
ised guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  will  keep  us 
true  to  the  old  order,  which  is  very  durable  and 
sufficiently  ornate. 

The  wise  man  thinks  less  of  the  ashes  under 
his  grate  than  of  the  bright,  warm  fire  in  it, 
and  our  thoughts  should  dwell  less  on  the 
ashes  of  life,  the  residuum  left  after  each  day 
of  service,  till  the  soul  takes  its  departure,  and 
more  on  the  flame  of  our  spiritual  existence, 
just  as  the  mind  of  Moses  was  fixed  on  the 
burning  bush  because  the  bush  was  not  con- 
sumed and  no  ashes  formed.  That  was  life 
without  residuum,  wonderful  to  him  and  to 
us.  How  wonderful  that  the  infinite  God  can 
create  a  finite  being  who  can  have  the  infinite 
God  as  the  object  of  his  thought  and  affection ! 
He  can  have  and  he  must  have.  Nothing  short 
"of  deity  will  satisfy  this  finite  creature;  noth- 
inoj  less  than  the  infinite  God:  and  so  we  dis- 
cover  an  element  of  the  infinite  in  the  finite,  a 
thread  of  divine  glory  in  our  human  nature. 

60 


Concerning  Conclusions 

IV. 

The  Christian  who  has  duty  plainly  before 
him,  knows  just  where  to  strike  and  then 
shows  a  disposition  to  glance  off,  is  not  quite 
in  earnest.  His  religion  is  a  secondary  matter, 
and  his  glancing  strokes  are  dangerous  to  him- 
self and  others.  He  should  adopt  a  creed  that 
is  practical  and  personal,  the  individual  "I'' 
taking  the  place  of  the  customary  and  collective 
"we"  and  the  more  distant  "they"  so  convenient 
in  conversation  of  a  certain  type.  He  should 
have  clear  ideas  in  religion,  and  as  an  aid  to 
this  end  the  following  is  offered  by  way  of  sug- 
gestion : 

1.  I  accept  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment as  my  Savior  and  Lord;  the  Holy  Spirit 
as  my  guide  into  all  truth  and  my  Comforter 
at  all  times ;  God  the  Father  as  revealed  by  the 
Christ  and  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  object  of 
my  worship. 

2.  I  take  the  four  Gospels  to  tell  me  how 
to  be  saved  from  sin,  the  Acts  to  show  me  how 
to  be  sanctified,  the  twenty-one  epistles  to  teach 
me  how  to  grow  in  the  grace  and  knowledge  of 
the  Christ,  the  Eevelation  to  John  to  give  me 
a  vision  of  the  ascended  Christ,  of  the  future 
history  of  the  Christian  church,  and  of  my  own 
future  home;  and  I  take  the  whole  Bible  to 

61 


Parables  for  the  People 

reveal  to  me  the  will  of  God  as  the  law  of  my 
life  here  and  hereafter. 

3.  I  claim  the  peace  of  God  as  my  present 
and  permanent  possession;  the  love  of  God  as 
my  motive  in  the  inner  circulation  of  my  life 
and  also  in  its  outer  activities ;  the  glory  of  God 
as  my  ambition;  the  people  of  God  as  my  peo- 
ple, and  the  kingdom  of  God  as  the  field  of  my 
life  and  labor. 

Our  creeds  should  shape  and  also  show  our 
convictions,  and  our  convictions,  like  our  bones, 
should  remain  with  us.  Right  convictions 
never  need  changing,  and,  like  our  bones,  they 
should  not  be  fractured  or  broken.  They  should 
grow  with  us '  in  size  and  strength  and  useful- 
ness, and  be  the  basis  of  mental  and  moral 
action  corresponding  with  the  basis  of  mus- 
cular action  of  the  body.  Of  course,  we  never 
needlessly  exhibit  our  bones,  but  respectfully 
cover  them  with  the  soft  flesh  of  courtesy  and 
keep  them  warm  with  the  lifeblood  of  kindness. 
As  nature  makes  a  mighty  effort  to  repair  a 
broken  bone,  so  should  a  man  to  restore  a  frac- 
tured conviction.  Two  hundred  and  eight 
bones  are  required  to  equip  a  human  body,  and 
about  as  many  settled  beliefs  or  convictions  to 
give  form  and  strength  and  consistency  to  a 
man  as  a  mental  and  moral  and  religious  unit. 


62 


Co7icerning  Conclusions 

As  there  is   a  place   for  every  conviction,  so 
every  conviction  should  be  in  its  place. 

Our  creeds,  whatever  they  may  be,  eventually 
become  our  convictions,  and  are  not  simply  the 
formal  expression  of  them.  Hence  we  do  well 
to  continue  to  "believe  and  confess  before  all 
men.''  They  are  not  sign-boards  pointing  to 
roads  we  do  not  intend  to  travel,  unpleasant 
conclusions  we  seek  to  escape,  ideals  which  we 
regard  futile  or  false,  but  symbols  of  truth, 
expressions  of  life,  embodied  spirits,  our  creeds 
becoming  our  convictions  even  as  the  Word 
became  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us. 


V. 

A  shabby  character  is  worse  than  shabby 
clothes  beyond  all  comparison,  but  both  are 
sure  to  become  shabby  unless  the  owner  keeps 
them  in  repair.  Like  good  clothes,  good  char- 
acter tends  to  scuff  and  wear  out.  It  evolves 
downward  instead  of  upward  unless  men  make 
special  provision  for  the  upward  evolution. 
This  is  a  historic  fact,  even  if  it  looks  a  trifle 
like  a  dogmatic  declaration.  The  body  fails 
by  reason  of  disease  and  injury,  by  accident 
and  old  age,  and  clothes  lose  buttons,  need 
patches  in  out-of-the-way  places,  and  frequently 
the  old  suit  must  give  place  to  a  whole  new  out- 

63 


"Parables  for  the  People 

fit.  However  proper  and  becoming  it  is  for  a 
good  man  to  be  well  dressed,  ordinary  clothes 
cannot  reduce  the  real  worth  of  an  extraordi- 
nary man.  Were  men  and  women  required  by 
law  to  wear  clothes  that  matched  their  charac- 
ters, to  be  in  appearance  what  they  are  in  fact, 
what  a  revolution  would  be  wrought !  With 
no  chance  for  argument  and  deception,  the 
rogue  in  business  and  society,  in  church  and 
state  would  think  the  judgment  day  had  come, 
while  the  honest  man  would  rejoice  in  his  in- 
tegrity as  well  as  in  his  clothes.  The  convict 
would  stick  to  his  stripes  or  his  stripes  would 
stick  to  him.  The  smooth  rascal  who  always 
passed  for  a  gentleman  would  find  a  new  job 
and  a  new  set  of  friends.  Here  and  there  an 
innocent  man,  falsely  accused  and  unfortu- 
nately condemned,  would  say  triumphantly,  "I 
told  you  so."  Of  course,  this  will  do  to  think 
about,  but  it  is  not  likely  to  take  place  till 
Gabriel  sounds  his  trumpet,  and  in  the  mean- 
time men  must  take  life  as  it  is. 

In  fact,  life  is  just  a  course  in  a  kinder- 
garten. Men  and  women  have  their  object 
lessons  and  are  called  upon  to  learn  from  the 
most  ordinary  tasks  and  experiences  a  wisdom 
that  is  above  the  ordinary  and  which  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  in  order  to  happiness  and  well- 
being.     If  they  fail  to  learn  wisdom  from  the 

64 


Concerning  Conclusions 

ordinary  duties  of  life,  for  example,  to  keep 
their  feet  securely  on  the  plain,  solid  earth  of 
fact  and  truth,  to  discover  an  agreeable  variety 
amid  the  apparent  monotony  of  life,  to  see  how 
the  meanest  duty  is  related  to  the  most  impor- 
tant, these  duties  will  become  uninteresting 
and  even  repulsive. 

In  the  well-regulated  home,  the  ash-pan  must 
be  carefully  carried  out  every  morning  and 
emptied  on  the  ash-pile.  Ashes  are  inert  and 
lie  where  they  fall  unless  lifted  by  somebody 
or  some  breeze,  or  as  often  occurs  both  go  to 
work  at  the  same  time  without  premeditation 
or  any  real  cooperation.  Ashes  are  considered 
a  symbol  of  mourning,  but  the  contents  of  the 
pan  may  blow  all  over  you  without  reference 
to  your  sorrows,  and  you  are  very  likely  to 
forget  the  symbol  while  contending  with  the 
real  stuff.  But  let  us  remember  that  we  are 
optimists  and  prefer  to  think  of  the  one  who 
carries  out  the  ashes  as  having  sweet  com- 
munion with  common  things,  observing  the 
changing  air  currents  between  the  kitchen  door 
and  the  ash-pile  and  rejoicing  that  his  work 
brightens  the  fire  in  the  grate  and  hurries  up 
the  coffee  on  the  cook-stove. 

At  last  we  see  that  while  we  are  practical 
we  must  be  philosophical;  while  we  are  useful 
we  must  be  poetical;  while  we  are  realistic  we 

5  65 


Parables  for  the  People 

m  st  be  idealistic;  and  as  between  the  realism 
and  the  idealism  of  the  man  with  the  ash-pan 
and  the  author  of  the  ordinary  work  of  fiction, 
give  me  that  of  the  man  with  the  ash-pan. 
There  is  something  so  substantial  and  ordinary, 
so  wholesome  and  homelike  abont  it.  It  be- 
longs to  real  life,  and  that  is  the  only  kind  that 
becomes  ideal.  The  only  path  to  the  ideal  for 
any  of  ns  is  through  the  real,  and  that  path  is 
open  to  the  housekeeper  and  the  farmer,  as  well 
as  to  the  preacher  and  the  poet.  Any  one  who 
can  be  real  in  himself,  real  in  any  sphere  of  life 
and  labor,  real  in  his  relation  to  man  and  God, 
can  also  be  ideal,  and  ought  to  do  it.  The 
ability  brings  with  it  the  obligation.  The  man 
who  wishes  to  be  ideal,  wisely  begins  by  being 
real.  He  easily  assures  himself  of  this  fact 
by  personal  experience  and  careful  observation, 
and  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the  real  man 
is  the  only  one  who  develops  naturally  and  nec- 
essarily into  the  ideal  man,  and  that  this  con- 
clusion is  not  less  clear  to  the  mind  than  to 
the  eye  are  the  pebbles  at  the  bottom  of  the 
crystal  waters  of  the  spring  or  the  bright  stars 
in  the  depths  of  the  cloudless  midnight  sky. 


66 


The  Bird  px  the  Topmost  Limb. 

I  saw  a  bird  with  a  glossy  coat 

Fly  up  to  the  topmost  limb 
Of  a  tree  so  tall  that  as  I  looked 

My  head  soon  began  to  swim. 

That  bird  in  black  chose  that  very  limb 

Of  all  in  that  graceful  tree; 
And  seemed  at  rest  at  that  altitude — 

It  never  would  do  for  me. 

Admiring  th'  bird  on  the  topmost  limb, 
I  thought  how  faint  I  would  be 

To  take  that  place,  were  it  strong  enough, 
The  top  of  that  poplar  tree. 

But  I  must  rise  to  the  topmost  limb 

Of  some  tall  tree,  I  am  sure; 
The  tree  of  life  with  its  topmost  branch. 

And  there  I  must  rest  secure. 

A  duty  high,  none  beside  so  high; 

A  day  beyond  which  is  none 
For  me  on  earth;  but  only  an  hour 

When  my  life  and  work  are  done. 

The  courage  shown  on  the  swaying  limb 

My  courage  must  emulate, 
When  I  shall  rise  to  that  solemn  hour. 

With  all  of  my  little  weight. 

I  can,  I  know,  be  just  as  secure 
As  th'  bird  on  the  topmost  limb, 

If,  with  my  friend  of  the  glossy  coat, 
I  have  wings  and  feet  like  him. 

By  faith  will  I  walk  and  not  by  sight, 
(Her  visions  my  eyes  shall  greet;) 

And  offer  my  prayer  more  fervently 
For  faith  as  my  wings  and  feet. 


67 


The  Meaning  of  Method 


iFotegleam* 

A  method,  like  a  coat,  is  made  for  individual 
use  and,  of  course,  should  fit  the  man  who  is  in- 
side. The  method  a  man  adopts  or  constructs  fits 
close  enough  to  show  the  outlines  of  his  figure, 
what  he  is  and  shall  be,  and  even  the  presiding 
principle  in  his  mind.  From  the  moral  and  relig- 
ious standpoint  there  are  two  methods — that  of 
worldly  wisdom,  based  on  appearance  and  force, 
and  that  of  divine  wisdom,  based  on  truth  and 
gentleness.  Men  take  their  pick.  Some,  however, 
try  to  combine  the  two,  but  eventually  discover 
that  they  cannot  work  two  methods  any  better 
than  they  can  serve  two  masters,  that  a  man's 
method  often  accounts  for  his  efficiency  or  ineffi- 
ciency, his  success  or  failure,  and  that  only  the 
man  himself  fully  accounts  for  his  method. 


70 


Cbe  Q^eaning  of  QietfioD 

The  hand  of  the  engineer  lays  hold  of  the 
locomotive  at  the  throttle-valve,  the  air-brake, 
and  the  reverse  lever,  and  not  at  the  wrist-pin. 
There  is  a  world  of  difference.  Intelligence 
tells  at  the  throttle,  while  force  rules  at  the 
wrist-pin,  and  no  man  could  imagine  that  his 
arm  of  flesh  is  stronger  than  that  ribbed  arm 
of  steel  which  transmits  from  the  cylinder  to 
the  drive-wheels  a  power  measured  by  pressure 
to  the  square  inch.  The  engineer  governs  his 
machine  by  means  of  its  own  force  and  mech- 
anism. His  task  is  to  direct  the  power  har- 
nessed under  his  control,  moving  his  machine 
forward  or  backward,  increasing  its  speed  or 
slowing  down  and  bringing  it  to  a  full  stop. 
His  strength  is  never  pitted  against  that  of  his 
machine,  or  lent  to  it,  however  heavy  the  grade 
or  ponderous  the  train  to  which  it  has  been 
coupled.  He  is  not  needed  at  the  wrist-pin, 
but  takes  his  place  in  the  cab  where  intelligence 
tells  and  reason  ought  to  reign. 

The  ordinary  man  resembles  the  locomotive 
in   action,   if   not   in   appearance,   being   con- 

71 


Parables  for  the  People 

structed  with  reference  to  motion.  His  desires 
and  motives,  his  aims  and  ambitions,  and  even 
his  likes  and  dislikes  are  steam  in  the  boiler. 
He  generally  carries  a  few  pounds  for  ordinary 
use,  but  must  fire  up  before  he  can  move  very 
fast  or  very  far.  His  will  is  the  engineer  who 
governs  the  man,  or  rather  the  man  who  gov- 
erns himself,  and  when  he  does  so  we  name  this 
power  of  self-control  his  will,  which  is  a  great 
convenience  to  his  friends  and  no  inconvenience 
to  him.  He  keeps  his  desires  and  ambitions, 
his  aims  and  motives,  and  even  his  likes  and 
dislikes  under  control,  using  them  for  his  own 
advancement  and  avoiding  open  switches  and  a 
thousand  other  causes  of  accident.  When  a 
man  gets  tired  governing  himself  according  to 
the  law  of  God  and  his  own  constitution  and 
seeks  relief,  or  what  he  generally  calls  "free- 
dom," by  throwing  the  reins  of  self-control  on 
the  neck  of  desire,  thus  permitting  desire  to 
develop  into  passion,  the  passion  for  pleasure, 
whieh  comes  easy  and  early,  or  the  passion  for 
stimulating  drinks  and  drugs,  which  comes  by 
careless  cultivation,  or  the  passion  for  money, 
which  comes  naturally  and  increases  with  suc- 
cess in  a  regular  geometrical  progression,  he 
loses  hold  of  the  open  throttle,  the  air-brake, 
and  the  reverse  lever,  and  if  he  tries  to  save 
himself,  as  he  often  does,  by  laying  hold  of  the 

72 


The  Meaning  of  Method 

revolving  wrist-pin  of  the  evil  consequences  of 
his  folly,  he  feels  quite  sure  of  an  impending 
wreck,  and  that  somebody  will  be  hurt.  For 
once  he  is  a  prophet  and  foretells  his  own 
future,  and  that  of  any  other  man  in  his  con- 
dition. A  mantis  part  headlight,  and  not  all 
will,  but  his  headlight  is  often  smashed  by  his 
will.  As  a  matter  of  business  and  safety,  if 
not  of  morality  and  religion,  a  man  ought  to 
know  himself  like  a  competent  engineer  knows 
his  locomotive,  or  be  content  to  get  back  in  the 
train  like  a  common  gondola  or  box-car  to  be 
pulled  by  a  safe  leader.  He  must  know  how 
to  regulate  and  shut  off  the  steam  of  desire 
and  ambition,  how  to  slow  down  on  the  curves 
and  down  grades,  how  to  use  the  reverse  lever 
in  case  of  emergency  by  an  act  of  quick  intelli- 
gence and  heroic  will,  and,  in  short,  to  apply 
his  mental  power  and  physical  strength  where 
they  will  do  the  most  good.  He  must  know 
himself  as  he  is  known  and  enter  into  the  de- 
sign of  his  Builder  and  Maker  in  order  to 
insure  "a  safe  run." 

II. 

The  word  "how  ?"  with  a  question  mark  after 
it,  may  call  out  the  whole  story  of  a  man's 
virility  and  success.  His  method  accounts  for 
his  work,  quality  and  quantity,  and  even  the 

73 


Parables  for  the  People 

man  himself,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  he 
first  originates  or  adopts  his  method  to  aid  him 
in  his  work,  adopting,  of  course,  a  method  in 
keeping  with  his  character  and  his  aim  in  life. 
His  method  faithfully  reflects  the  man  at  the 
moment  of  his  choice.  It  is  a  "snap-shot,"  and 
may  become  a  picture  of  "long  exposure"  or 
even  a  composite  picture  true  to  life  at  many 
times,  and  so  at  any  time.  A  study  of  methods 
is  therefore  a  study  of  men  from  one  point  of 
view,  and  a  very  good  one,  too,  for  it  shows 
them  as  they  are  and  not  simply  posing. 
Method  becomes  the  useful  little  straw  that 
shows  which  way  the  wind  blows  in  a  man's 
life,  the  personal  quality  in  his  handwriting 
that  attests  the  genuineness  of  his  signature, 
the  finger-print  that  individualizes  him  beyond 
doubt  or  question. 

Generally  there  is  more  than  one  way  of 
doing  things,  but  we  naturally  suppose  there 
is  one  way  easier  and  better  than  any  other. 
The  marksman  can  miss  the  bullseye  at  the 
top  or  bottom  or  on  either  side,  but  to  hit  it 
requires  a  center  shot.  There  are  a  thousand 
ways  of  doing  pretty  nearly  right,  but  only  one 
of  doing  right.  Two  and  two  make  four,  and 
three  and  one  are  four,  and  in  either  case  the 
one  result  is  as  good  as  the  other.  A  hundred 
other  ways  of  reaching  the  same  result  would 

74 


The  Meaning  of  Method 

be  perfectly  legitimate  as  a  mathematical  pro- 
cess. Two  millions  plus  two  millions  are  four 
millions,  which  may  represent  respectively  the 
actual  investment  in  dollars  of  some  famous 
financier  and  the  actual  proceeds  of  his  legiti- 
mate business,  or  it  may  represent  the  original 
capital  with  an  equal  amount  added  by  means 
of  capitalization  to  reduce  the  rate  of  interest 
on  the  investment,  but  not  the  actual  income 
of  the  owner,  and  also  to  double  the  price  of 
stock,  if  not  its  value.  The  greatest  financiers 
wish  to  be  agreeable  and  levy  their  tolls  in  the 
nicest  possible  way.  They  evidently  prefer  to 
violate  no  law  of  the  land  and  to  be  considered 
fairly  respectful  to  the  Ten  Commandments. 
Judges  and  juries,  the  press  and  the  people, 
the  state  and  the  church,  are  all  trying  to  make 
up  their  minds  on  this  new  subject  in  finance 
and  morals.  The  science  of  mathematics  never 
assumes  the  right  to  relieve  moral  beings  of 
moral  responsibility.  Two  and  two  make  four, 
and  the  moral  teacher  cheerfully  accepts  the 
result  from  the  mathematician  and  the  finan- 
cier, but  he  asks  a  like  courtesy  when  he  goes 
back  of  the  figures  to  take  a  look  at  the  method 
by  which  and  the  man  by  whom  this  result  was 
secured.  The  financier  must  not  recklessly  re- 
solve to  rule  the  moralist  out  of  court,  for  both 
are  responsible  to  government,  human  and  di- 

75 


Parables  for  the  People 

vine,  and  mathematics  should  therefore  keep 
step  with  morality.  When  the  financier  claims 
the  right  to  sell  beef  and  coal  and  oil  at  his  own 
price,  he  makes  his  mathematics  rather  than 
his  morality  the  architect  of  his  fortune. 

We  all  know  what  we  think  of  the  preacher 
who  by  his  profession,  if  not  by  his  superior 
knowledge  of  religious  truth,  seeks  to  overreach 
his  people.  Instinctively  the  old  word  "hypo- 
crite" comes  into  use  again,  though  scribe  and 
Pharisee  are  long  dead.  The  physician  who 
uses  his  greater  knowledge  of  medicine  to  de- 
lude his  patients  or  fill  his  pocketbook  deserves 
to  be  called  a  "quack."  The  lawyer  who  finds 
means  to  fleece  his  clients  or  thwart  justice  by 
means  of  his  knowledge  of  law  bears  the  name, 
"shyster."  In  this  first  decade  of  the  twentieth 
century,  men  are  trying  to  make  up  their  minds 
as  to  what  they  think  of  the  financier  who  uses 
his  superior  knowledge  of  business  for  selfish 
ends,  and  abuses  the  confidence  of  the  people 
in  order  to  make  a  fortune,  and  do  it  quickly. 
The  word  trembles  on  our  lips.  It  must  be 
spoken  soon,  for  it  is  needed  for  immediate 
use.  This  one  creature  unknown  in  that  earlier 
age  was  unnamed  by  Adam  in  Eden.  Satan 
uses  his  superior  knowledge  to  delude  and  de- 
stroy men,  while  the  Christ  uses  his  to  save 
and  sanctify  them,  and  the   Christian,  be  he 

76 


The  Meaning  of  Method 

financier,  lawyer,  pliysician,  or  preacher,  must 
work  out  the  Christian  and  not  the  satanic 
idea,  and  no  amount  of  profession  or  profes- 
sionalism can  cover  up  bad  practices  or  atone 
for  bad  principles. 

The  man  of  money  must  be  the  man  of 
morals  and  of  manhood  as  well  as  of  mathe- 
matics. He  must  keep  manhood  in  view,  his 
own  and  that  of  his  employee,  for  the  two  stand 
or  fall  together.  If  he  respects  manhood  in 
himself,  he  will  respect  it  in  other  men,  and 
if  he  neglects  it  in  others  he  will  neglect  it  in 
himself.  Manhood  will  rise  and  money  sink 
in  his  estimation  as  he  learns  from  the  Man  of 
Galilee,  who  knew  his  own  worth  as  a  man  and 
who  placed  the  highest  possible  estimate  on 
every  other  man.  Here  only  can  the  financier 
learn  to  keep  his  mathematics  in  right  relation 
to  his  morals,  and  subordinate  money  to  man- 
hood in  shaping  and  applying  his  method. 


III. 

A  piece  of  fine  philosophy  held  and  advocated 
by  a  small  class  of  religious  teachers  and  just 
a  few  others  as  a  matter  of  convenience,  needs 
to  be  considered  with  care,  however  respectable 
its  origin  or  plausible  its  appearance.  This 
doctrine  generally  passes  unchallenged,  else  it 

77 


Parables  for  the  People 

would  not  pass  at  all.  But  here  it  is,  and  being 
of  age  it  shall  speak  for  itself. 

As  good  men  and  true,  we  are  charged  to 
enter  into  conflict  with  sin,  but  not  the  sin- 
ner, the  wrong  but  not  the  wrong-doer;  to 
resist  the  evil  method  but  not  the  evil  man,  the 
policy  but  not  the  perpetrator.  As  good  men 
and  true,  we  are  likely  to  hold  the  opinion  that 
a  sin  and  a  wrong,  a  method  and  a  policy, 
however  evil  and  injurious,  remain  quite  harm- 
less and  inactive  so  long  as  they  are  not  adopted 
and  worked  out  by  some  man.  Could  we  con- 
ceive of  them  existing  in  the  middle  of  a  ten- 
acre  field,  they  would  work  no  hardship  there, 
for  the  evil  only  begins  when  some  man  adopts 
them  as  his  own  and  brings  them  forth  to  foist 
and  force  them  upon  society. 

As  good  men  and  true,  we  are  charged  to 
hate  the  sin  but  love  the  sinner,  and  this  we 
cheerfully  do  in  the  fond  hope  that  the  two  are 
not  inseparable.  Under  the  leadership  of  love 
we  must  try  to  save  the  sinner  from  his  sin,  but 
in  case  the  sinner  loves  his  sin  we  cannot  love 
him  for  loving  his  sin,  and  in  case  his  love  for 
his  sin  becomes  supreme,  little  room  is  left  for 
our  love  to  act  upon  the  sinner's  heart,  however 
much  may  be  in  our  own.  When  Ephraim  is 
joined  to  his  idols,  let  him  alone,  says  Hosea. 
He  looks  upon  the  sin  and  the  sinner  as  insep- 

78 


The  Meaning  of  Method 

arable,  and  love  is  without  opportunity  when 
the  two  have  become  one. 

Ezekiel  records  the  words  of  the  covenant 
God  of  Israel,  "The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall 
die."  Here  the  sinner  appears  as  a  sinner,  and 
men  are  not  permitted  to  know  his  particular 
sin  or  separate  it  even  in  thought  from  the 
perpetrator.  The  prophet  tells  nothing  of  the 
temptations  under  which  that  soul  labors,  the 
circumstances  which  might  be  offered  in  ex- 
tenuation of  its  acts  or  the  much-mooted  ex- 
cuse that  others  were  guilty  of  the  very  same 
sins.  His  word  is  the  declaration  of  individual 
responsibilit}^,  universal  in  its  scope  and  indi- 
vidual in  its  application.  The  method  of 
excuse  and  palliation  and  extenuation  should 
never  be  confused  with  the  method  of  mercy 
and  goodness  and  grace,  or  put  forward  as  a 
substitute  for  salvation.  Solomon  asserts  that 
"though  hand  join  in  hand  the  evil  man  shall 
not  be  unpunished."  Men  may  belong  to  the 
club  or  corporation  or  even  the  church,  but  in- 
toxicating drinks  will  still  intoxicate,  neglect 
or  misuse  of  the  Sabbath  day  is  still  desecra- 
tion, and,  in  short,  sin  against  God  is  still  sin, 
however  common  and  customary. 

Jesus  knew  the  difference  between  sin  and 
sinner  as  well  as  any  religious  teacher  who  has 
yet  appeared,  but  we  never  find  him  looking 

79 


Parables  for  the  People 

for  sin  anywhere  except  in  a  being  capable  of 
obeying  and  also  of  disobeying  God.  With  him, 
vice,  like  virtue,  seems  exceedingly  personal. 
When  he  looked  upon  the  wayward  Peter  and 
called  him  back  to  himself  by  way  of  repent- 
ance, he  showed  his  perfect  knowledge  of  hu- 
man nature,  following  up  his  first  act  by  a 
second  not  less  important  in  the  restoration  of 
his  disciple  to  his  favor,  as  he  asks  the  pathetic 
question,  "Lovest  thou  me?"  Love  me  so  that 
my  love  may  be  unhindered  by  your  heart. 
Only  when  this  personal  relationship  is  re- 
stored completely  does  the  mind  of  the  Master 
rest,  for  only  then  could  the  mind  of  his  dis- 
ciple rest  once  more.  To  his  unreasonable  and 
unrelenting  opponents  he  said  earnestly  and 
openly,  "Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites."  Being  the  truth,  he  could  say  no 
less.  They  were  one  with  their  sin,  one  with 
error  in  the  very  presence  of  truth,  and  love 
no  longer  had  any  way  of  entrance  or  place  of 
rest  in  their  hearts.  "Woe  unto  you,"  are  his 
stinging  words,  and  not  simply,  "Woe  unto 
your  evil  ways  and  deceptive  policy  and  grace- 
less method." 

In  the  fineness  of  his  philosophy,  no  Chris- 
tian can  afford  to  part  company  with  Jesus 
or  set  aside  the  wisdom  of  God  revealed  in  his 
Word  and  applied  by  his  Spirit. 

80 


The  Meaning  of  Method 

IV. 

That  virtue  is  individual  and  personal  tries 
our  faith  far  less  than  to  believe  that  vice  fits 
a  man  so  closely.  It  is  pleasanter  and  easier 
to  own  that  goodness  takes  possession  of  a  man, 
forming  his  will  and  filling  his  thoughts,  than 
to  admit  that  evil  holds  the  same  place  and 
does  the  same  work.  But  excellence  of  char- 
acter, like  defeat,  is  more  than  a  garment  to 
be  laid  aside  or  resumed  at  pleasure.  Evil,  like 
good,  radiates  from  the  center  of  the  man. 
Hence  the  men  of  the  Bible  are  not  merely 
characters  like  those  of  the  novel  or  the  drama, 
which  are  carefully  described  in  appearance  and 
attractively  represented  in  action,  but  real  per- 
sons with  moral  quality  plainly  set  forth  and 
religious  life  clearly  depicted.  These  higher 
categories  of  being  are  not  left  empty  or 
enigmatical.  No  uninspired  writer  has  ever 
given  us  so  deep  and  true  a  view  of  human 
nature  as  it  is,  and  as  it  ought  to  be,  covering 
the  whole  range  of  life  from  the  lowest  depths 
of  vice  to  the  highest  altitudes  of  virtue. 

When  children  in  school  "copy"  and  so  pass 
on  in  their  course  of  study  without  really  learn- 
ing their  lessons,  they  suffer  two  consequences : 
They  fail  to  secure  the  education  they  appear 
to  be  working  for,  and  they  succeed  in  getting 

6  81 


Parables  for  the  People 

what  they  do  not  desire — serious  trouble  on  the 
ever-recurring  examination  days.  In  like  man- 
ner Christians  who  copy  other  Christians  fail  to 
learn  the  lessons  of  life  as  taught  in  God's 
Word,  by  his  good  providence,  and  by  his  Holy 
Spirit.  Such  Christians  do  as  other  Christians 
do,  their  chosen  examples  seldom  being  the  best 
in  sight,  and  at  this  point  the  Christian  copyist 
falls  below  the  child  in  school.  By  copying 
they  fail  to  attain,  each  for  himself,  a  satis- 
factory religious  life,  and  the  days  of  trial  find 
them  unprepared  for  trouble.  Will  they  fail 
in  the  frequent  tests  of  life?  Can  they  copy 
at  the  final  examination  on  the  day  of  judg- 
ment? or  is  the  wisdom  of  that  day  the  same 
as  this  and  every  other,  all  crying  out  in  unison, 
"Christian,  don't  copy,  but  learn  for  yourself 
the  lesson  of  life  while  you  may"  ? 

Grold-plated  Christians  are  less  valuable  and 
less  durable  than  the  solid  kind  who  need  no 
alloy  to  harden  them  for  use,  but  wear  all  the 
better  for  being  in  the  neighborhood  of  twenty- 
four  carats  fine.  The  pure  in  heart  are  able  to 
see  God  in  the  Bible,  in  the  Christ,  in  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  wherever  he  is  to  be  seen  by  men. 
The  Christian  sees  God  especially  in  the  Holy 
Spirit,  who  is  to  him  a  person  of  prime  impor- 
tance, having  convicted  him  of  sin,  of  right- 
eousness, and  of  judgment  like  any  ordinary 

82 


The  Meaning  of  Method 

sinner,  and  then  comforted  him  and  guided 
him  into  all  truth  like  any  ordinary  saint.  His 
method  of  dealing  with  men  is  individual  and 
personal  and  becomes  exceedingly  interesting 
and  instructive.  Any  man  can  discover  where 
the  Spirit  classes  him,  whether  with  sinners  to 
be  convicted  and  saved  or  with  saints  to  be 
comforted  and  guided.  JSTo  man  need  be  in 
doubt  concerning  his  place  before  God.  There 
is  a  meaning  in  the  divine  method  of  dealing 
with  men,  and  early  in  life  and  once  for  all 
they  should  learn  to  know  its  significance,  since 
it  is  the  wisdom  of  God  applied  to  the  individ- 
ual and  personal  need  of  each  one,  whatever 
be  his  spiritual  state  or  standing,  and  since 
the  proving  of  our  faith  is  more  precious  than 
gold,  though  it  be  tried  with  fire. 

The  selfishness  of  one  man  can  hardly  be 
harmonized  with  that  of  another  for  any  con- 
siderable period  of  time,  and  must,  therefore, 
bring  the  two  into  conflict  and  personal  oppo- 
sition. Xo  intelligent  man  expects  this  prin- 
ciple to  be  universally  applicable  or  to  be  for- 
ever enforced  for  his  personal  convenience. 
Only  when  he  is  deluded  by  some  selfish  desire 
which  controls  him  inside  and  out  does  he 
really  believe  others  expect  him  to  do  just  as 
he  is  doing.  Eventually  the  odds  will  be 
against  him,  and  in  favor  of  the  man  of  Chris- 

83 


Parables  for  the  People 

tian  principle  who  is  not  only  unselfish  but  also 
sacrificial.  Though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  our 
sakes  the  Christ  became  poor;  while  he  pos- 
sessed divine  power,  he  refused  to  call  for  angel 
deliverers,  but  gave  himself  over  to  the  cross; 
throughout  his  life  he  always  did  those  things 
that  were  pleasing  to  God  the  Father.  The 
Christian  still  rules  his  own  heart,  but  he  rules 
it  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  The  Baby- 
lonian Nebuchadnezzar  ate  considerable  grass 
before  he  knew  that  "the  heavens  do  rule,"  and 
this  old  ruler,  so  proud  of  the  city  he  built, 
may  have  a  wider  relationship  than  we  are 
accustomed  to  think.  Two  ideals  as  different 
as  the  worlding's  and  the  Christian's  can 
hardly  flourish  in  the  same  heart  or  home  while 
oil  and  water  refuse  to  mix,  and  if  we  adopt 
the  Christian's  ideal  we  must  claim  the  Chris- 
tian's assistant,  for  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  liv- 
ing link  between  the  Christian,  the  Holy  Bible, 
and  the  Holv  God. 


V. 

The  mythical  theory  of  Strauss,  first  pub- 
lished in  1835,  startled  the  Christian  world. 
The  legendary  theory  of  Eenan,  issued  in  1863, 
won  many  adherents,  of  whom  a  remnant  may 
still   be   found.      But   the    gifted    Frenchman 

84 


The  Meaning  of  Method 

looks  more  legendary  to  ns  to-day,  and  the  great 
German  more  mythical  than  the  Christ,  who 
stands  many  centuries  farther  from  us  in  his- 
tory, but  nearer  in  fact  and  in  person,  being 
real  to  us  in  all  that  makes  men  agreeably  real 
— fine  intelligence  linked  with  good  will,  sweet 
sympathy  associated  with  right  moral  purpose, 
and  deep  devotion  to  man  corresponding  to 
his  devotion  to  God.  The  Christian  of  to-day 
must  therefore  be  real,  and  not  mythical  or 
legendary.  He  must  be  clearly  defined  to  the 
eye  of  reason  and  genuinely  solid  to  the  touch 
of  faith.  He  is  described  in  the  Bible,  and 
even  illustrated.  He  is  charted  there  and  can 
be  found  like  a  lighthouse.  Not  a  floating 
island,  not  a  cloud  without  rain,  not  salt  with- 
out savor,  but  the  very  core  of  reality,  being 
real  at  the  center  where  he  touches  God  and 
at  the  circumference  where  he  meets  his  fellow- 
man.  Being  filled  with  all  the  fullness  of  God 
and  protected  by  his  providential  care,  he  can 
neither  collapse  from  within  nor  be  crushed 
from  without. 

The  center  of  the  earth  is  inside  of  itself, 
the  center  of  its  weight  and  also  its  rotation  on 
its  axis,  but  the  center  of  its  motion  in  its  orbit 
is  in  the  sun.  Likewise  the  center  of  a  man 
is  in  himself,  being  a  real  unit  and  making  his 
own  choices,  but  when  he  chooses  the  Christ, 

85 


Parables  for  the  People 

and  is  chosen  by  the  Christ,  then  he  centers  in 
the  Son  of  God.  The  Bible  shows  ns  God  in 
relation  to  men  and  men  in  relation  to  God, 
and  no  age,  no  theory,  no  philosophy  should 
ever  be  permitted  to  obscure  this  vision  of  life 
and  being.  The  Hebrew  poet  declares  of  the 
covenant  God,  "Thou  wilt  show  me  the  path 
of  life,"  while  Jesus  asserts  concerning  the 
Holy  Spirit,  "He  shall  guide  you  into  all 
truth,"  and  so  guidance  and  goodness  are  no 
longer  doubtful  questions,  but  certainties  of 
the  most  comfortable  kind.  Men  need  a  guide 
who  knows  human  life  from  infancy  to  old 
age ;  who  knows  its  proper  course  and  outcome ; 
who  knows  man's  weakness  and  remembers  that 
he  is  dust;  who  knows  his  ambitions  and  also 
his  limitations;  who  knows  us  each  as  individ- 
uals and  never  loses  us  in  the  multitude;  who 
knows  us  personally  and  deeper  and  wider  and 
higher  than  we  know  ourselves.  Wonderful  it 
is  to  have  such  a  guide,  but  without  him  we 
are  adrift  on  an  unknown  sea. 

If  this  interpretation  of  the  meaning  of 
method  is  found  to  be  scriptural,  then  experi- 
ence will  show  that  it  is  sensible;  if  it  teaches 
us  not  to  copy  and  counterfeit  as  Christians,  it 
also  urges  us  to  be  genuine  and  genuinely  good ; 
if  it  deals  with  the  man  as  well  as  with  the 
method,  it  is  because  of  the  necessity  of  the 

86 


The  Meaning  of  Method 

case;  if  it  soon  loses  sight  of  the  wrist-pin,  it 
is  because  it  seeks  to  give  every  man  a  firm  hold 
of  the  throttle-valve,  the  air-brake,  and  the 
reverse  lever. 


87 


A  Miracle  to  Eemember. 

Bring  again  the  loaves  and  fishes, 
Place  them  in  the  Master's  hand; 

Then,  responding  to  his  wishes. 
Share  the  fruits  of  his  command. 

Oh,  how  sweet  to  be  his  servant! 

Oh,  how  good  to  do  his  will! 
May  our  love  be  far  more  fervent; 

May  his  loaves  the  many  fill. 

"What  he  doth  he  knoweth  ever. 
What  he  asks  of  us  for  aye; 

Calling  us  to  high  endeavor 
That  our  faith  he  thus  may  try. 

Joined  with  Christ  in  life  and  labor, 
Feeding  still  the  multitude; 

Truth  we  offer  to  our  neighbor 
As  his  own  God-given  food. 


88 


The  Use  of  Means 


JForegleam* 

There  is  a  simple  science  and  a  homely  art, 
which  we  all  are  compelled  to  study  practically,  if 
not  theoretically;  namely,  the  adaptation  of  means 
to  ends  in  the  affairs  of  our  ordinary,  every-day 
life.  Both  offer  opportunity  for  profound  study. 
This  unpretentious  science  may  carry  us  far  if  we 
follow  it  faithfully,  nor  should  it  become  less  prac- 
tical by  becoming  more  profound.  This  every-day 
art  smoothes  the  path  of  life  and  aids  attainment. 
As  great  discoveries  in  natural  science  have  proved 
most  useful,  so  the  knowledge  and  skill  gained  by 
any  man  in  the  use  of  means  brings  its  reward  in 
the  form  of  success  in  industrial  and  commercial 
enterprises,  in  social  and  professional  life,  in  the 
construction  of  character,  and  in  the  realization  of 
personality  on  the  divine  pattern. 


90 


Cfie  O0e  of  s&tam 

The  wild  flowers  I  saw  the  other  day  bloom- 
ing on  the  hillside  attracted  the  bee  and  the 
butterfly,  and,  perchance,  the  humming-bird,  or 
even  the  little  child  whose  natural  sense  of 
beauty  happily  remains  with  it,  growing  as  it 
grows,  and  continuing  through  all  the  years  of 
toil  and  care  and  not  withering  even  in  old  age, 
when  the  senses  are  less  acute.  The  sense,  like 
the  love  of  the  beautiful,  should  never  droop 
or  die,  and  to  the  thoughtful  man  its  existence 
becomes  a  testimonial  of  the  beneficence  of  his 
Creator,  an  evidence  of  the  immortality  of  his 
own  spirit  and  a  prophecy  of  his  future  home 
which  must  answer  to  this  need  of  his  nature. 
The  wild  asters  in  blue  and  pink  and  white 
on  the  hillside  fill  a  place  beneath  the  blue  sky 
and,  with  the  goldenrod  and  the  honeysuckle, 
now  barren  of  bloom,  serve  to  accent  the  quiet 
beauty  of  early  autumn. 

If  we  could  call  to  our  side  Asa  Gray  or 
Herman  Mueller  or  Charles  Darwin,  to  dis- 
course to  us  about  the  flowers,  their  varied 
forms  and  manner  of  fertilization,  telling  us 

91 


Parables  for  the  People 

how  tliey  behave  and  everything  else  we  wanted 
to  know,  we  shonld  snrely  be  happy.  Or  would 
we  prefer  the  great  Teacher  of  Nazareth,  who 
considered  the  lilies  of  the  field  and  invited 
others  to  join  him  in  this  original  work  in 
nature  study?  How  close  he  brings  the  lilies 
to  us  and  how  close  he  brings  us  to  the  lilies ! 
They  become  our  instructors  and  even  our 
friends  to  remain  such,  let  us  assume,  while 
they  live  their  brief  life,  and  we  as  their  sur- 
viving friends  are  permitted  to  stand  sorrow- 
fully by  their  graves  year  after  year,  till  at  last 
their  distant  descendants  will  hopefully  bloom 
above  our  own.  Men  and  flowers  are  closely, 
and  we  may  say  inseparably  associated  the 
world  over.  No  doubt  both  are  intended  to  be 
lovely  and  pleasant  in  their  lives,  and  so  in 
their  death  they  are  not  divided. 

Our  Teacher,  who  really  comes  in  answer  to 
our  wish,  tells  us  the  secret  of  the  beauty  of 
both  flowers  and  men,  which  we  very  much 
need  to  know  and  had  failed  to  discover  for 
ourselves.  The  flowers  of  the  field  grow  without 
cultivation  by  man.  Here  is  a  place  for  reason 
to  set  her  foot.  An  invisible  relation  exists 
between  God  and  the  flowers.  He  clothes  them 
in  beauty,  and  does  it  without  any  visible  effort 
on  his  part  or  toil  on  theirs.  Thus  their  beauty 
is  accounted  for  fully  and  satisfactorily,  and 

92 


The  Use  of  Means 

reason  feels  the  force  of  the  conclusion,  if  she 
is  true  to  herself.  The  fact  we  have  under  con- 
sideration is  observed  in  nature,  accurately 
stated  in  language,  and  properly  recorded  in 
the  teachings  of  Jesus. 

The  flowers,  unlike  men  in  their  toil  and 
strife  and  effort,  become  beautiful  by  natural 
development  alone,  slowly  and  silently  using 
the  means  provided  in  soil  and  sunshine,  in 
rain  and  dew  and  air  until  they  transcend  even 
Solomon  in  all  his  glory.  To  be  fairly  out- 
done by  one  little  flower  that  appears  to  do 
nothing  at  all  but  just  grow,  to  be  beaten  by  a 
lower  form  of  life  so  that  it  becomes  an  exam- 
ple of  the  right  relation  to  God,  when  we  ought 
to  be  nearer  to  God  than  it  is  or  ever  can  be, 
to  be  second  to  a  blossom  that  grows  on  the 
hillside  without  human  care,  sustained  by  the 
thin  soil  among  the  rocks,  watered  by  dew  and 
rain,  caressed  by  the  winds  of  summer,  and 
nurtured  bv  the  rays  of  the  sun,  ouHit  to  be 
enough  to  humble  human  pride  and  bring  any 
man  and  every  man  submissively  to  the  same 
great  God  to  be  clothed  in  beauty. 

Surely  we  each  and  all  owe  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  our  instructors,  and  also  to  the  flowers, 
or  rather  to  Him  who  made  them  and  made 
them  beautiful  in  order  that  we  might  see  the 
touch  of  his  hand  and  be  sure  of  his  personal 

93 


Parables  for  the  People 

presence  and  his  beneficent  purpose.  Dealing 
with  well-known  facts  in  the  most  candid  and 
trustworthy  manner,  our  Teacher  has  led  us 
to  a  conclusion  that  ought  to  be  conclusive  and 
satisfactory,  because  it  is  strictly  scientific  as 
related  to  the  facts,  logical  as  regards  method, 
and  beneficent  in  its  outcome.  This  lesson  in 
botany  which  rises  into  sesthetics  and  philos- 
ophy and  religion,  from  the  material  to  the 
spiritual,  from  the  natural  to  the  supernatural, 
should  never  be  lost  upon  us  as  long  as  the 
flowers  are  with  us  and  as  long  as  we  are  with 
the  flowers. 

II. 

"Go  to  the  center  somewhere,"  was  the  crisp 
advice  of  a  wise  man  who  modestly  called  him- 
self a  parish  preacher.  In  making  his  wisdom 
ours  we  are  credited  with  knowing  which  direc- 
tion to  take  as  well  as  having  the  means  to  get 
there.  Men  are  pleased  to  be  credited  with 
ability  of  this  kind  because  they  already  know 
or  are  sure  they  can  find  out.  Indeed,  if  they 
fail  to  find  out  for  themselves,  they  will  never 
kno\\^  very  much  that  is  worth  knowing  or  know 
anything  very  well.  The  teacher's  secret  is 
to  get  scholars  to  want  to  learn,  and  so  escape 
the  heavy  task  of  trying  to  teach  what  they 
do  not  want  to  know.     After  this  first  lesson  is 

94 


The  Use  of  Means 

mastered,  any  other  is  comparatively  easy,  the 
lesson  of  the  flowers,  their  beauty,  the  real 
cause  of  it  all,  and  the  scholars'  privilege  to  be 
clothed  in  like  manner.  He  may  start  with  the 
lilies  of  the  field  or  the  wild  asters  on  the  hill- 
side and  safely  find  his  way  to  the  center. 

He  should  carefully  note  the  successive  steps 
of  his  progress,  and  be  able  to  describe  the  path 
he  pursued.  When  he  studies  the  lily  and  the 
wild  aster  as  plants,  he  is  plainly  within  the 
limits  of  the  science  of  botany.  When  he  makes 
their  beauty  the  basis  or  starting-point  for  the 
study  of  beauty  in  general  and  proceeds  into 
the  realm  of  mind  and  spirit,  he  is  in  the  realm 
of  esthetics.  When  he  discovers  the  cause  of 
beauty  in  the  flower  and  in  the  man  to  be  one 
and  the  same,  and  finds  that  God  is  ever  an 
active  agent  in  both  fields,  as  evidenced  by 
effects,  he  has  stepped  into  the  field  of  philos- 
ophy. AVhen  he  discovers  God  as  an  active 
agent  and  comes  into  his  very  presence,  when 
he  learns  that  he  is  closely  related  to  men  as 
well  as  to  the  flowers,  and  that  he  should 
be  related  to  God  by  personal  confidence  and 
obedience,  he  then  finds  himself  in  the  realm 
of  religion. 

The  appeal  to  reason  is  quite  as  plain  and 
direct  in  the  Bible  as  in  books  on  natural  sci- 
ence.    "Consider  the  lilies,"  comes  as  a  request 

95 


Parables  for  the  People 

to  any  honest  thinker  to  take  the  flowers  as  an 
object  of  thought  and  then  proceed  to  an}^ 
legitimate  conclusion  in  the  course  of  our  men- 
tal activity.  It  is  a  friendly  effort  to  get  the 
man  to  want  to  know,  then  to  use  means  to 
this  end,  and  not  to  stop  short  of  any  result, 
however  far-reaching.  Let  botany  lead  on  to 
a3sthetics  and  philosophy  and  religion,  if  it 
will,  but  he  will  ever  be  true  to  reason,  to  his 
subject,  and  to  himself. 

The  modern  distinction  between  science  and 
religion  and  the  supposed  opposition  of  the  two 
seems  to  have  been  overlooked  or  ignored  by 
the  Christ.  At  least  that  distinction  served  no 
purpose  in  his  teaching  corresponding  with  its 
importance  in  the  speculations  of  men  of  our 
age.  The  effort  to  fence  off  science  from  relig- 
ion and  to  account  for  all  we  can  see  about  us 
on  the  basis  of  material  things,  physical  forces 
and  natural  laws,  has  led  some  scientific  teach- 
ers to  a  partial,  inadequate,  and  false  con- 
clusion. Their  first  dictum  was.  Nature  must 
not  tell  us  of  God,  and  presently  they  enun- 
ciated another  which  was  really  contained  in 
the  first,  Nature  cannot  manifest  God.  Botany 
must  not  lead  us  into  aesthetics  and  philosophy 
and  religion.  The  scientific  man  must  keep 
away  from  the  center  whatever  else  he  does  or 
leaves  undone.     He  must  not  follow  the  advice 

96 


The  Use  of  Means 

of  the  parish  preacher  or  the  method  of  the 
Christ. 

On  the  sensible  supposition  that  every  man 
is  morally  bound  to  use  his  reason  for  his  own 
well-being  and  to  make  the  best  and  the  most 
out  of  everything  about  him,  we  are  at  a  loss 
to  know  what  better  use  he  could  make  of  the 
lilies  than  that  which  Jesus  made  of  them.  He 
grasps  his  subject  in  its  widest  reaches  of  sig- 
nificance, as  a  part  of  creation  and  as  a  means 
of  conveying  great  truths  to  our  minds,  and 
any  additional  knowledge  we  may  gain  of  the 
structure  of  plants,  the  formation  and  function 
of  flowers,  only  enriches  for  us  the  lesson  he 
has  tausfht.  These  new  facts  fall  within  the 
outline  of  his  thinking.  He  has  gone  to  the 
center,  and,  while  he  leaves  much  to  be  said  by 
scientific  men,  there  is  no  new  ground  on  which 
reason  can  set  her  foot  and  no  new  conclusion 
possible  which  shows  that  science  and  revela- 
tion are  and  of  right  ought  to  be  in  conflict, 
but  just  the  very  opposite  appears;  namely, 
that  nature  ought  to  teach  men  about  God, 
that  men  ought  to  be  more  beautiful  than  the 
flowers,  and  that  God  wishes  to  provide  a  gar- 
ment of  beauty  for  man  which  is  in  keeping 
with  his  rank  in  creation. 

If  men  fail  to  get  to  the  center,  it  is  not  for 
lack  of  means,  but  only  of  use.  For  many 
7  97 


Parables  for  the  People 

men  the  neglect  of  means  is  a  larger  subject 
than  the  use  of  means.  The  neglect  leaves  a 
man  poor,  while  the  use  makes  the  same  man 
rich  in  possessions  or  thoughts  or  character. 
But  who  is  so  poor  that  he  cannot  get  a  start 
in  spiritual  life?  Who  so  indigent  that  he 
cannot  own  an  aster?  Who  so  careless  that  he 
would  not  use  it  for  the  best  possible  purpose? 
Who  so  thoughtless  as  not  to  get  the  aid  of  the 
great  Teacher  when  it  is  so  kindly  offered? 
Under  his  tuition  any  man  can  proceed  from 
the  wild  aster  and  get  to  the  Center  of  all 
beauty  and  all  being,  and  do  it  fairly  and  logic- 
ally. If  a  man  is  really  determined  to  be  a 
man,  it  is  hard  to  understand  how  he  can  fail 
to  see  the  flowers  or  to  want  to  know  about  them, 
and  so  become  an  earnest,  sincere  student  in 
botany,  and  consequently  in  aesthetics  and  phi- 
losophy and  religion.  He  cannot  reasonably 
limit  himself  or  honestly  steer  clear  of  the 
center. 

III. 

A  lifetime  of  practical  training  must  suffice 
to  confer  skill  in  the  use  of  means  and  cultivate 
judgment  in  adapting  means  to  ends.  Some 
nice  calculations  may  be  required  to  determine 
what  should  be  done  and  the  resources  under 
our  control.     The  three  Guinea  fowl  that  walk 

98 


The  Use  of  Means 

along  that  woven-wire  fence  want  over  into 
the  yard  where  there  is  fine  picking  among 
the  ripened  seeds,  bnt  only  one  uses  its  wings, 
while  the  other  two,  in  spite  of  a  good  example 
and  in  total  neglect  of  their  wings,  continue 
to  walk  back  and  forth  unavailingly.  Many 
a  fence  rises  between  men  and  their  success  in 
life.  They  see  what  is  to  be  overcome,  some 
only  in  part,  while  others  survey  the  whole 
situation  from  bottom  to  top.  This  complete 
view  is  likely  to  suggest  the  way  to  get  over 
and  the  best  means  to  be  used. 

The  skill  of  the  mechanic  and  the  genius  of 
the  inventor  have  been  combined  in  our  age  as 
never  before  to  master  the  problem  of  rapid 
transit  in  the  air  and  over  land  and  sea.  Every 
applicable  fact  of  science  and  every  new  method 
of  construction  are  made  to  contribute  to  the 
one  grand  result,  speed  combined  with  safety. 
Men  are  working  toward  the  limits  in  the 
strength  of  materials,  the  combination  of  nat- 
ural forces,  and  the  endurance  of  human  facul- 
ties and  powers.  Just  here  may  arise  a  sus- 
picion that  we  are  overworking  the  inventor 
and  the  mechanic  and  forgetting  the  minister 
and  the  man. 

In  fact,  a  man  may  faithfully  wind  his  watch 
each  day  and  his  clock  each  week,  and  then 
carelessly   forget   to   wind    himself.      He    may 

99 


Parables  for  the  People 

actually  forget  that  he  is  run  down  on  both 
sides,  the  physical  and  the  spiritual,  or  per- 
haps never  really  know  it.  A  good  night's  rest 
brings  the  physical  weight  up  to  the  top  ordi- 
narily, but  sometimes  it  requires  a  vacation 
and  the  aid  of  the  doctor.  He  raises  the  spir- 
itual weight  by  Bible  study,  prayer,  and  relig- 
ious activity  in  general.  He  winds  up  by  means 
of  good  resolutions  well  kept,  by  devotion  to 
duty,  and  by  consecration  to  the  Christ,  who 
is  always  with  him  as  his  Friend  and  always 
above  him  as  his  Greater.  He  discovers  that 
he  and  his  watch  require  regularity,  and  that 
just  any  time  will  not  do  for  him  or  his  watch, 
for  if  he  attends  to  it  just  any  time  he  happens 
to  think  of  it  ten  to  one  he  will  think  of  it  half 
a  dozen  times  one  day  and  not  at  all  the  next. 
His  memory  works  better  by  rule  than  by 
random. 

The  future  of  any  boy  is  sufficiently  safe  in 
his  own  keeping,  if  he  is  a  good  boy.  When 
Jacob  left  the  old  home  and  journeyed  alone 
to  Haran,  he  saw,  in  a  dream,  as  he  lay  sleep- 
ing at  Bethel,  that  wonderful  ladder  which 
was  a  way  to  heaven.  Jacob  saw  that  way  at 
Bethel,  while  Jesus  saw  it  anywhere;  Jacob  in 
a  dream,  Jesus  when  awake;  Jacob  became 
aware  of  it  and  of  the  presence  of  God  as  his 
head  rested  on  a  stone,  Jesus  as  his  thoughts 

100 


The  Use  of  Means 

rested  on  a  little  flower.  Jacob  needed  the 
dream,  but  Jesus  saw  with  open  eyes  as  he 
stood  in  the  full  light  of  both  worlds,  the  mate- 
rial and  the  spiritual.  ,  For  him  there  was  no 
need  and  no  room  for  dream  or  vision,  since 
his  faculties  were  keen  through  obedience,  his 
attitude  of  mind  rendered  him  receptive  to 
God  and  the  Spirit  of  God  rested  upon  him. 

The  oak  grows  taller  if  it  has  but  a  single 
stem  and  comparatively  few  branches.  We 
note  with  wonder  the  respect  shown  by  the  tall 
tree  for  the  law  of  gravity.  It  would  be  dan- 
gerous for  the  tree  to  fall  out  with  the  plumb- 
line,  and  in  case  some  mighty  wind  sways  it 
to  the  east  or  west,  the  north  or  south,  it  does 
its  best  to  get  back  to  the  perpendicular  as  a 
whole  or  in  part  as  new  shoots  start  out  again. 
Men  may  have  a  natural  tendency  to  grow 
aslant  and  pattern  after  the  storm-swept  tree 
or  the  leaning  tower,  but  they  know  a  way  of 
straightening  up  if  only  they  would  use  it. 
Any  man  can  safely  be  tall  if  he  is  also  true, 
if  he  is  straight  and  perpendicular,  if  he  lives 
in  the  light  of  the  vision  God  gives  him  and 
faithfully  points  to  his  Center. 


101 


Parables  for  the  People 

IV. 

If  a  man  gains  the  standing  in  the  school 
of  life  of  a  master  of  means,  his  real  rank  is 
not  far  below  the  bachelor  of  science  fresh  from 
college,  or  even  the  man  with  the  advanced 
degree  of  master  of  arts.  As  a  matter  of 
means,  he  is  versed  in  a  sort  of  universal  sci- 
ence that  may  be  applied  equally  well  in  botany 
and  aesthetics  and  philosophy  and  religion,  and 
nntil  a  better  name  is  suggested  let  us  call  it 
the  science  of  common  sense. 

The  adaptation  of  means  to  ends  by  Deity 
is  more  intelligent  and  more  effective  than 
that  of  man,  and  hence  in  mechanical  construc- 
tion, if  not  in  the  formation  of  character,  man 
is  often  a  mere  copyist.  When  he  shapes  his 
boat  for  the  water,  he  studies  the  form  of  the 
water-fowl.  When  he  seeks  to  sail  through  the 
air,  he  applies  the  principles  discovered  in  the 
structure  of  the  bird's  wing.  When  noble  char- 
acter is  his  dream,  he  takes  the  Christ  as  his 
ideal.  When,  in  the  study  of  a  lower  form  of 
life  he  is  tempted  to  limit  himself  to  one  phase 
of  the  subject,  to  the  neglect  or  even  the  rejec- 
tion of  all  others,  let  him  remember  that  his 
Teacher  is  looking  over  his  shoulder  and  offer- 
ing a  contribution  from  his  own  mind.  Let 
him   remember  also  that  he  is  more  like  his 


102 


The  Use  of  Means 

Teacher  than  the  lily  or  the  aster,  and  that  he 
must  expect  to  learn  more  from  his  Teacher 
than  from  the  object  of  his  study.  The  teach- 
er's contribution  is  an  important,  if  not  a  gov- 
erning factor  in  the  scientific  teachings  of  any 
man,  just  as  it  is  a  very  important,  if  not  a 
principal  factor  in  the  religious  teachings  of 
Jesus.  The  true  teacher  in  either  field,  science 
or  religion,  will  be  faithful  to  facts,  thorough 
in  investigation,  and  sincerely  respectful  to 
man  as  intelligent,  moral,  and  religious.  He 
never  betrays  reason  by  the  kiss  of  sophistry, 
or  knowingly  leads  a  student  to  conclusions 
that  prove  false  and  delusive.  Hence  any 
teacher  who  dislikes  to  have  the  Christ  look 
over  his  shoulder  can  hardly  claim  to  be  a 
candid  student  who  is  sure  of  the  results  of  his 
own  investigations. 

If  God  touches  the  flower  with  the  blush  of 
beauty  by  means  of  the  sunlight  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  nature,  then  we  may  reasonably 
expect  that  in  the  ordinary  course  of  human 
life  he  can  also  touch  the  spirit  of  man  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  in  order  to  bring  it  to  that  degree 
of  perfection  which  is  the  divine  thought  of 
excellence  in  the  realm  of  character  and  per- 
sonality. Man  need  not  stand  at  the  foot  of 
creation  if  only  he  wants  to  stand  at  the  head 
and  become  an  example  of  beauty  to  the  flow- 

103 


Parables  for  the  People 

ers,  being  as  much  fairer  than  they  as  he  is 
more  exalted  in  the  scale  of  being.  As  he  looks 
upon  the  flower,  let  him  think  of  the  beauty 
designed  for  him  by  the  same  great  Artist. 

The  boy  plays  truant  without  fully  realizing 
the  nature  of  his  act  of  disobedience  and  decep- 
tion or  its  effect  upon  his  conduct  and  char- 
acter. Men  and  women,  who  are  but  children 
grown,  discredit  the  Sabbath  day  as  set  apart 
by  God  or  deny  the  need  of  such  a  day  when 
they  fail  to  use  it  as  a  day  of  rest  from  ordinary 
toil  and  a  day  of  religious  activity  and  spir- 
itual culture.  On  the  basis  that  man  is  an 
intelligent,  moral,  and  religious  being,  either 
view  is  repulsive  to  reason  and  contrary  to 
experience.  Better,  far  better  is  it  to  accept 
the  lesson  of  the  lilies,  remain  in  the  class  and 
under  the  eye  and  care  of  our  great  Teacher. 

V. 

The  Gnostic  of  the  second  century  knew  too 
much  for  his  own  good,  and  the  agnostic  of 
the  nineteenth  knew  too  little.  The  one  under- 
took to  answer  unanswerable  questions  concern- 
ing God  in  his  essential  being,  the  source  of 
moral  evil,  and  the  extended  chain  of  existences 
he  conceived  to  fill  up  the  space  between  God 
and   man.      The   other  refused   to   accept   the 

104 


The  Use  of  Means 

teachings  of  the  Christ  concerning  God  and 
man,  and  cherished  the  idea  that  God  is  not 
really  knowable,  until  it  became  the  governing 
principle  in  his  philosophy.  The  Gnostic 
sought  to  paganize  Christianity,  while  the 
agnostic  thought  to  substitute  science  as  a 
system  and  a  method. 

The  plain,  ordinary  man,  who  is  a  master 
of  means  and  versed  in  the  science  of  common 
sense,  comes  too  close  to  the  flowers  to  deify 
science  or  betray  the  Christ.  In  spite  of  fanci- 
ful theories  he  feels  the  force  of  fact  and  truth, 
and  his  reason  sets  her  foot  on  solid  ground  in 
the  very  face  of  misleading  arguments.  He 
reaches  conclusions  in  botany  and  aesthetics  and 
philosophy  and  religion  that  he  is  not  willing 
to  surrender.  They  are  fairly  and  honestly 
his,  and  he  is  not  at  liberty  to  barter  them  as 
he  would  the  products  of  farm  or  factory. 

The  college  professor  of  questionable  Chris- 
tian character  demands  perfect  freedom  in 
theorizing  as  well  as  in  investigating,  and 
appeals  to  men  to  respect  his  vagaries  because 
of  his  office,  when  he  might  be  expected  to  rely 
solely  on  his  appeal  to  their  reason.  The  man 
who  asserts  that  he  is  an  artist,  and  then  ap- 
peals to  sensuality  by  his  nude  and  suggestive 
figures,  can  hardly  complain  if  decent  people 
are  inclined  to  denv  his  claim  and  even  doubt 

105 


Parables  for  the  People 

his  sincerity.  The  false  prophet  still  wears 
sheep's  clothing  in  order  to  look  innocent.  He 
assumes  to  be  what  he  is  not,  and  so  prevents 
the  development  of  a  character  such  as  he  imi- 
tates. The  effort  of  any  man  not  to  be  himself 
is  sure  to  fail,  for  whatever  he  appears  to  be 
he  is  himself  after  all. 

God  commands,  but  never  compels  men  to 
do  their  duty  as  intelligent,  moral,  and  relig- 
ious beings.  Paul  persuades  men  to  present 
their  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy  and  accept- 
able to  God,  which  is  their  spiritual  service. 
The  means  of  spiritual  life  are  with  us,  but 
the  disposition  to  use  them  must  be  cultivated. 
"Come  unto  me,'^  says  the  Christ.  Not  by  vio- 
lence, not  by  deception  will  he  win  men.  If  ever 
a  man  belongs  to  God,  it  will  be  by  the  exercise 
of  his  own  will  freely  and  cheerfully,  because 
intelligently  and  conscientiously.  His  life  may 
long  be  continued  on  the  earth,  but  his  heart 
will  ever  welcome  the  lesson  of  the  lily,  the 
goldenrod,  and  the  wild  aster,  a  lesson  which, 
in  its  depth  of  meaning  and  its  breadth  of 
thought,  it  may  take  him  a  whole  lifetime  to 
learn.  Beautiful  is  the  lily  by  the  touch  of 
God,  and  yet  more  beautiful  may  be  thy  spirit, 
0  man,  for  thou  dost  stand  nearer  the  Source 
of  beauty  in  the  scale  of  being  and  verily 
thou  canst  rise  higher  in  the  measure  of  thy 
realization. 

106 


The  Seakch  for  Happiness. 

In  nature  all  around  me 
I  hear  the  voice  of  praise, 

As  creature  and  creation 

Their  wordless  hymn  they  raise. 

The  song  of  bird  is  welcome, 
The  music  of  the  breeze; 

The  running  brook  so  quiet 
Is  well  designed  to  please. 

The  joy  I  find  in  nature 

I  share  a  little  while; 
It  comes  from  my  Creator 

And  brings  to  me  a  smile. 

The  pleasures  sin  can  offer 
Are  not  to  me  the  same; 

But  bring  a  tired  feeling 

And  leave  a  sense  of  blame. 

Not  more  of  these  will  bless  me 
But  less  and  less,  I  trow; 

So  joy  I  seek,  another — 
My  Bible  tells  me  how. 

God's  Book  is  one  of  blessing; 

Concerning  Christ  it  tells; 
The  hope  and  help  of  mortals, 

And  in  my  heart  he  dwells. 

How  wonderful  and  pleasant 
This  Book  of  love  and  life; 

Its  message  is  the  music 
That  banishes  my  strife. 

My  Christ  can  make  me  happy, 
For  he  can  make  me  true. 

Yes,  Christ  has  made  me  joyful. 
For  he  has  made  me  "new." 

107 


True  joy  is  not  the  bottom, 

But  top  of  everything; 
And  as  we  climb  the  higher 

The  louder  may  we  sing. 

No  wonder  that  the  Christian 
Can  sing  so  very  well, 

Since  more  and  more  of  heaven 
And  less  and  less  of  hell 

Is  filling  up  his  spirit; 

The  songs  the  angels  sing 
Become  supremely  joyful 

As  through  his  sbul  they  ring. 

The  best  is  not  the  bottom. 
But  always  at  the  top; 

Then  climb,  you  pleasure  seeker, 
You  never  need  to  stop. 

Just  take  your  open  Bible 

And  do  as  it  has  said; 
You  '11  glory  find  and  gladness 

A  crown  upon  your  head. 


108 


Motive  and  Motion 


iForegleam. 

Motion  is  a  familiar  fact  known  from  childhood, 
by  personal  experience  and  observation.  As  we 
are  active  we  live  physically,  mentally,  and  spirit- 
ually. The  inactive  man  lives  less  than  the  active 
man,  the  uneducated  less  than  the  educated,  and 
the  morally  and  religiously  undeveloped  less  than 
the  spiritual-minded  man.  Motion  appears  to  us 
as  an  effect  and  also  a  cause.  The  movements  of 
matter  declare  the  presence  of  force,  and  force 
leads  us  back  to  mind  and  will.  In  the  movements 
of  mind  we  discover  motive  at  the  center  of  the 
current.  According  to  Revelation,  love  is  the  mo- 
tive of  the  divine  mind,  and  should  be  man's  mas- 
ter motive.  Love  as  a  motive  is  not  self-destruc- 
tive, but  self-existent,  and  hence  easily  eternal; 
and  so  the  life  of  the  love-moved  man  must  bear 
these  marks. 


110 


9@otitie  anD  amotion 

The  noisy  little  brook  which  appears  to  have 
lost  its  way  half  a  dozen  times  in  its  crooked 
course  across  the  meadow,  and  the  great  river 
which  appears  to  move  so  slowly  and  silently, 
are  interesting  each  in  its  own  way,  and  we 
never  seem  to  tire  of  the  sight  or  sonnd  of 
either  one.  The  song  of  the  brook  successfully 
counteracts  "the  song  of  the  shirt,"  and  we 
find  a  real  relief  from  toil  and  care  as  we  rest 
upon  its  grassy  banks  and  listen  to  its  unpre- 
tentious music.  There  is  enough  sound  to  be 
company  for  us,  enough  similarity  in  its  notes 
to  give  consistency  to  its  song,  and  enough 
variety  not  to  become  monotonous  and.  weari- 
some. The  individual  sounds  are  separable  by 
the  attentive  ear,  while  the  combination  is  har- 
monious, and  the  ever-recurring  order  of  the 
principal  tones,  with  the  numerous  grace-notes 
beyond  the  skill  of  human  artist  to  render,  is 
restful  and  refreshing  to  the  sympathetic  lis- 
tener. It  is  nature's  lullaby,  and  she  sings  it 
sweetly.  Many  a  weary  one  who  wanders  far 
in  search  of  rest  would  do  well  to  sit  on  the 

111 


Parables  for  the  People 

banks  of  the  meadow-brook,  be  soothed  by  its 
music,  and  have  the  wrinkles  of  care  stroked 
out  of  his  forehead  by  the  gentle  hand  of 
nature. 

The  music  of  the  great  river  is  less  easily 
understood,  less  like  a  popular  air,  and  more 
like  a  classical  composition.  Its  tone  is  restful 
and  reassuring  like  that  of  the  brook,  and  calls 
us  back  to  the  calmness  and  confidence  of 
health  and  strength  and  the  simple  life.  Do 
you  hear  that  low  swish  as  the  water  brushes 
by  the  banks?  Many  sounds  mingle  as  it 
ripples  over  rocks  and  shallow  places,  all  keep- 
ing well  up  in  the  scale.  Even  when  the  stately 
river  breaks  into  the  rollicking  rapids  there  is 
something  serious  in  its  music,  something  that 
tends  to  make  us  very  thoughtful;  but  when 
it  rushes  over  a  precipice  and  roars  like  a 
mighty  organ  its  music  almost  overpowers  us, 
and  we  try  again  and  again  to  comprehend  this 
wonderful  composition.  The  reckless  leap,  the 
rising  mist,  the  rainbow  so  near  us  touch  the 
mind  through  the  eye  and  heighten  the  effect 
by  way  of  the  ear. 

But  what  is  it  in  the  river  and  in  the  brook 
that  fascinates  us?  Is  it  the  water  flowing  in 
one  continuous  and  unbroken  stream?  Is  it 
the  magnitude  of  its  power  suddenly  liberated 
before  our  eyes?     Is  it  the  dancing  waves  that 

112 


Motive  and  Motion 

never  grow  weary  and  the  ascending  spray  that 
loves  the  light?  Is  it  the  gentle  tones  of  the 
brook  and  the  irresistible  strains  of  the  mighty 
cataract?  Or  is  it  because  we  see  our  life  rep- 
resented before  us  in  the  flowing  water  as  it 
pursues  its  course  in  one  unbroken  stream? 
Uninterrupted,  it  flows  on,  and  even  the  preci- 
pice cannot  break  that  continuous  flow  for  a 
single  moment  or  the  fraction  of  an  inch.  Our 
life  is  likewise  continuous,  and  its  motion 
should  produce  a  music  not  less  sweet  and  rest- 
ful, not  less  impressive  and  inspiring.  Its 
varied  experiences  change  the  stops  and  swells 
and  even  the  key,  but  it  is  one  grand  composi- 
tion, now  reminding  us  of  the  grassy  banks  of 
the  brook  and  now  of  the  slow-moving  river 
or  even  the  waterfall  with  the  mist  and  the 
rainbow. 

II. 

Motion  in  the  brook  means  money  for  the 
miller  whose  wheel  it  turns,  and  in  the  river 
the  quickening  or  retarding  of  the  pulse  of 
commerce  according  to  its  direction  down  or 
up,  but  for  the  happy  lovers  who  drift  list- 
lessly with  the  current  or  row  heroically  against 
it  the  effect  is  much  the  same — the  quickening 
of  the  pulse  of  affection.  Motion  means  life, 
being  a  condition  of  life  on  the  green  banks  of 
8  113 


Parables  for  the  People 

the  brook  or  the  placid  surface  of  the  river. 
The  Dead  Sea  is  dead  since  no  creature  has 
been  created  to  inhabit  its  briny  and  motion- 
less waters.  The  prison  cell  is  hated  because 
it  is  a  bitter  limitation  of  life.  It  restrains 
the  body  and  may  even  place  limits  about  the 
mind  and  spirit  unless  the  prisoner  is  a  Martin 
Luther  in  the  Wartburg  castle  or  a  John 
Bunyan  in  the  Bedford  jail. 

The  wind-wheel,  which  becomes  so  lazy  on  a 
calm  day  and  when  the  breeze  stiffens  into  a 
steady  wind  appears  to  be  trying  to  make  up 
lost  time,  is  very  picturesque  in  Holland  and 
very  matter  of  fact  in  America.  In  the  home 
land  it  is  for  business,  and  in  the  foreign  land 
it  is  for  beauty  as  well  as  business,  if  the  word 
of  the  traveler  is  to  be  taken.  Its  power  is  one 
remove  from  nature,  but  we  can  easily  think 
back  to  the  invisible  agent  that  lays  hold  of  its 
extended  arms  and  lends  it  all  the  force  it 
exerts  without  any  apparent  diminution  of  its 
own.  The  steam-engine  is  simply  a  contrivance 
to  convert  the  power  of  a  gas  into  mechanical 
motion,  and  so  we  can  see  right  through  the 
engine  to  the  real  force  behind  it.  The  dynamo 
does  not  create  electricity,  but  only  the  electric 
current  which  the  electrician  knows  how  to 
transmit  and  apply  to  his  uses.  To  the  philos- 
opher the  dynamo  becomes  a  window  through 

114 


Motive  and  Motion 

which  he  sees  nature  as  the  real  power  behind 
the  machine^  not  all  of  nature  or  all  of  her 
power,  but  just  a  part,  just  enough  to  convince 
him  that  this  energy  of  nature  is  totally  beyond 
his  ability  to  estimate. 

Had  the  circulation  of  the  blood  been  dis- 
covered earlier  in  history,  good  use  might  have 
been  made  of  the  fact  by  medical  science,  but 
the  probability  is  that  it  would  not  have  served 
any  practical  purpose  five  centuries  or  even  one 
century  sooner.  Discoveries  are  generally  made 
when  they  are  most  needed  or  as  soon  thereafter 
as  convenient,  otherwise  they  lie  dormant  like 
an  unplanted  seed.  Need  awakens  effort,  de- 
mand calls  forth  desire,  and  desire  sets  the 
man  in  motion,  and  then  he  often  finds  that 
the  thing  he  wanted  was  not  far  to  seek.  In 
many  instances,  discoveries  appear  to  be  mere 
accidents,  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  man  who  fell  unexpectedly  upon  some  sci- 
entific secret  or  valuable  mechanical  device  was 
looking  for  something,  or  at  least  was  wide 
enough  awake  to  know  a  useful  thing  when  it 
presented  itself  before  his  eyes. 

Knowledge  arises  when  the  unknown  becomes 
active  in  the  presence  of  the  active,  knowing 
mind.  The  invisible  becomes  visible.  That  is 
to  say,  a  man  sees  what  he  did  not  see  before. 
The  invisible  is  just  the  same  as  it  was,  but 

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Parables  for  the  People 

the  beholder  now  knows  it  is  there  and  what 
it  is  by  means  of  what  it  does.  He  knows  how 
to  control  it  and  use  it  for  his  own  purposes, 
and  what  need  can  there  be  for  this  invisible 
agent  to  step  out  into  the  open  just  to  be  looked 
at  ?  Perhaps  it  would  be  dangerous  for  us  if 
it  were  to  offer  us  the  exhibition. 

One  thing  is  quite  plain,  and  that  is,  the 
visible  and  the  invisible  in  nature  are  not  so 
far  apart  as  men  sometimes  think,  and  the 
two  cannot  be  separated  from  each  other.  A 
second  fact  is  equally  clear;  namely,  that  mo- 
tion in  nature  calls  forth  the  mind  of  man  into 
action,  whether  in  the  form  of  thought  and 
investigation  or  of  effort  to  control  the  forces 
of  nature  for  his  own  comfort  and  convenience. 
A  third  fact  quite  as  important,  and  which 
should  be  quite  as  clear  to  us,  is  that  motion 
in  nature  is  not  the  result  of  mere  machinery, 
but  is  somehow  and  somewhere  dependent  on 
mind  for  its  existence  and  always  and  every- 
where for  its  manner  of  manifestation. 


III. 

Widely  different  as  they  are,  there  must 
be  some  connection  between  mind  and  motion, 
and  it  is  worth  our  while  to  discover  it.  Star 
dust  might  rotate  after  it  got  a  start,  but  the 

116 


Motive  and  Motion 

liardship  of  the  scientist  is  to  get  the  initial 
motion.  Perhaps  there  is  a  sort  of  circulation 
in  spiritual  and  material  things  of  which  we 
do  not  know  as  yet,  or  know  less  perfectly  than 
we  should.  In  shaping  and  unfolding  our 
philosophy  let  us  not  put  off  till  to-morrow 
what  we  can  do  to-day,  unless  we  are  sure  a 
limited  delay  will  aid  us  to  obtain  a  better 
theory  of  things.  The  motion  we  find  in  the 
brook,  the  river,  the  air  about  us,  and  the  blood 
in  our  veins,  is  so  very  beneficent  that  we  feel 
like  attributing  it  to  mind  rather  than  matter 
without  argument  or  even  question.  We  could 
not  get  on  without  this  motion  in  us  and  all 
about  us,  and  we  are  so  well  confirmed  in  our 
faith  that  we  are  willing  to  follow  it  to  its 
farthest  results. 

When  the  sacred  writer  asserts,  "In  the  be- 
ginning God  created  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,"  he  gives  a  fair  explanation  of  the  origin 
of  both,  and  far  more  satisfactory  than  the 
theory  that  they  originated  by  chance  or  always 
existed.  Eeason  rests  in  unity  or  adequate 
cause,  and  chance  does  so  very  little  creative 
work,  however  good  its  present  opportunities, 
and  matter  in  and  of  itself  is  so  very  inert  that 
it  appears  reasonable  and  scientific  as  well  as 
religious  to  rely  upon  God  for  the  acts  attrib- 
uted to  him  in  his  Word.     In  fact,  the  Bible 

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Parables  for  the  People 

stands  out  not  only  as  the  best  word  we  have 
in  religion,  but  also  in  science  and  philosophy, 
enabling  us  to  trace  our  steps  to  the  "Cause  of 
causes  that  can  do  all  things." 

We  find  intelligence  in  close  connection  with 
motion,  and  its  orderly  manifestations  and  in- 
telligence linked  with  good  intentions.  The 
mind  we  are  really  thinking  about  has  wise 
and  gracious  purposes,  and  evidently  takes 
great  pains  to  carry  them  out  for  our  well- 
being.  We  have  ample  reason  to  believe  that 
this  mind  governs  these  motions  according  to 
fixed  law,  for  the  forces  producing  them  always 
act  the  same  way.  Moreover,  this  mind  of 
which  we  are  thinking  must  be  governed  itself 
by  law,  never  being  notionate  or  erratic,  but 
always  intelligent  and  reasonable  and  well- 
disposed  toward  us,  and  hence  we  conclude  that 
it  is  moral  and  always  impelled  by  a  right 
motive. 

If  the  brook  can  set  the  poet's  fancy  in 
motion,  there  must  be  a  way  across  from  the 
brook  to  the  poet  and  from  the  poet  to  the 
brook.  If  Niagara  Falls  impresses  the  minds 
of  multitudes  to  such  a  degree  as  to  attract 
them  long  distances  to  behold,  there  must  be 
some  desire  in  these  minds  answering  to  the 
wonderful  spectacle.  This  way  across  from 
the  material  to  the  spiritual,  and  vice  versa,  is 

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Motive  and  Motion 

used  unconsciously  by  us,  and  only  when  we 
begin  to  reason  about  it  do  we  really  become 
unreasonable;  then  we  become  sa  earthy,  so 
unimaginative,  so  lost  to  faith  as  to  call  a  sud- 
den halt.  We  think  we  are  matter  of  fact 
when  we  rule  out  one  kind  of  facts  and  try  to 
build  our  world  of  the  other  alone.  But  mo- 
tion and  force  are  all  about  us  still,  and  we 
must  necessarily  count  on  them;  we  must  use 
them;  we  must  be  blessed  by  them  in  spite  of 
ourselves. 

Going  up  on  one  side  we  get  motion.  Going 
up  on  the  other  side  we  get  motive.  In  matter 
we  see  motion  and  in  mind  we  see  motive,  and 
discover  that  motion  in  the  brook  is  dependent 
on  motive  in  the  mind  who  created  it.  Motive 
is  mind  in  motion,  and  mind  in  motion  sets 
matter  in  motion.  Motive  and  motion  stand 
in  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  primarily, 
and  the  wonderful  windows  of  creation  allow 
us  to  see  enough  to  enable  us  to  complete  our 
view  by  the  use  of  our  reason. 

There  is  a  bridge  across  from  mind  to  mat- 
ter, but  science  has  not  undertaken  to  find  it. 
This  task  it  leaves  to  religion.  Science  limits 
itself  to  the  laws  and  phenomena  of  the  mate- 
rial universe  and  the  human  mind  as  intelli- 
gent and  moral.  Eeligion  considers  man  as 
spirit,  as  related  to  God,  as  primarily  and  essen- 

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Parables  for  the  People 

tially  immaterial.  No  wonder  religion  has 
always  looked  upon  science  as  its  handmaid 
and  not  as  its  master.  The  sphere  of  religion 
embraces  the  whole  scope  of  existence,  visible 
and  invisible.  The  spirit  of  man,  invisible  yet 
real,  stands  as  one  fact  side  by  side  with  that 
other,  the  invisible  God  who  is  not  less  real  in 
his  existence  and  agency.  The  manifestation 
of  God  in  Christ  presents  the  prime  article  of 
faith  and  knowledge  in  the  Christian  system. 
The  Christian  accepts  the  facts  and  truths  God 
has  made  known  through  Christ,  verifying 
them  to  his  own  satisfaction  and  gaining  a 
place  of  vantage  from  which  he  can  easily  see 
he  is  not  alone  on  an  island,  but  in  close  rela- 
tion with  the  invisible  world  of  good  or  per- 
chance of  evil.  From  this  viewpoint  he  sees 
not  only  the  motion  in  life,  but  the  motive  back 
of  all  right  motion,  namely,  love.  Here  the 
dove  of  honest  inquiry  brings  back  her  olive 
leaf  in  testimony  of  subsiding  doubt  and  as  a 
first-fruit  of  the  new  world  purified  and  pre- 
pared as  the  dwelling-place  of  man.  Here  his 
faith  rests  in  security  and  here  his  reason  must 
fold  her  wings  or  prepare  to  rely  upon  them 
forever. 


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Motive  and  Motion 

IV. 

Who  could  have  interpreted  for  iis  the  par- 
able of  the  wind  save  the  great  Teacher  of 
Galilee  ?  He  takes  this  invisible  force,  in  nature 
as  the  symbol  of  the  invisible  spirit  of  man. 
^''The  wind  bloweth  where  it  will,  and  thou 
hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell 
whence  it  cometh  and  whither  it  goeth:  so  is 
every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."  This 
force  in  nature  becomes  manifest  to  us  only 
in  part,  and  we  cannot  follow  it  to  its  limits 
and  sources  by  our  own  unaided  powers.  It 
goes  beyond  the  bounds  of  our  knowledge.  The 
spirit-born  man  is  likewise  a  living,  moving 
agent  in  the  unseen  world  of  the  spiritual,  and 
our  own  powers  must  be  supplemented  by  di- 
vine aid  if  we  are  to  know  our  past,  our  present, 
and  our  future. 

The  divine  element  has  its  place  in  our  char- 
acter and  life,  and  we  must  give  to  it  its  full 
value.  In  other  words,  we  must  Christianize 
our  philosophy,  or  our  philosophy  will  paganize 
us.  We  can  follow  Christ  or  some  other  master, 
but  we  cannot  follow  both  at  the  same  time. 
We  must  Christianize  our  science,  or  our  science 
will  materialize  us.  Nor  need  we  be  less  scien- 
tific because  we  keep  the  way  open  between  the 
visible  and  the  invisible,  or  because  we  regard 
mind  as  well  as  matter,  or  because  we  consider 

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Parables  for  the  People 

man  as  a  moral  and  religious  as  well  as  a  mate- 
rial being.  Common  sense  and  reason  and 
Christian  faith  are  brethren  that  can  dwell  to- 
gether in  unity.  The  world  by  wisdom  knew 
not  God,  in  an  earlier  age,  and  history  is  sure 
to  repeat  itself  if  at  any  time  men  undervalue 
the  great  facts  of  revelation,  the  invisible  man 
and  the  invisible  God. 

One  path  alone  leads  up  to  God — obedience. 
This  is  the  direct  road  and  the  short  cut.  Back 
of  obedience  you  will  always  find  love,  just  as 
you  find  love  back  of  revelation.  Love  in  God 
and  love  in  man  are  alike  and  have  affinity  each 
for  the  other.  Being  the  same  in  both  as  prin- 
ciple and  motive,  God  and  man  come  into  har- 
mony and  cooperation  on  the  basis  of  redemp- 
tion as  set  forth  in  the  New  Testament. 

Moses  conversed  with  God  on  Horeb  as  an 
individual  and  as  the  representative  of  his  peo- 
ple who  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  prayer.  Jesus 
said,  "He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the 
Father,^'  and  with  this  vision  he  asked  Philip 
to  be  content;  but  his  disciple  had  not  seen 
all  there  was  to  see.  He  had  not  looked  past 
the  visible  form  of  Jesus  to  the  invisible  God 
who  dwelt  within.  He  had  stopped  short  with 
the  physical  and  visible,  even  when  the  means 
to  pass  over  into  the  invisible  were  provided  for 
his  comfort  and  convenience.     The  manifesta- 

122 


Motive  and  Motion 

tions  of  superhuman  power  and  wisdom  had 
not  led  him  to  discover  superhuman  love  and 
life.  For  him  the  world  was  yet  divided,  since 
God  was  yet  invisible. 

From  the  wind-wheel  to  the  wind  that  turns 
it,  from  the  steam-engine  to  the  steam  that  is 
its  real  power,  from  the  dynamo  to  the  electric 
current  which  it  produces,  the  mind  moves 
easily  and  without  doubt  or  question,  and  so 
from  Christ  to  God  the  mind  finds  no  real  bar- 
rier outside  of  itself.  The  vision  is  before  us, 
whether  we  see  it  or  not.  Shame  would  redden 
the  cheek  of  any  man  who  professed  to  be  in- 
telligent and  yet  could  not  contemplate  these 
invisible  forces  in  nature.  A  sense  of  shame, 
tenfold  deeper  might  be  expected  on  the  face 
of  the  man  who  comes  into  the  presence  of  the 
Christ  and  yet  fails  to  perceive  the  personal 
presence  of  God. 

V. 

'No  perpetual  motion  in  mechanics  has  yet 
been  discovered,  however  diligently  it  has  been 
sought,  which  raises  a  strong  suspicion  that 
there  is  none  to  discover.  There  may  be  a  per- 
petual motive,  however,  which  would  be  much 
more  useful,  and  when  found  we  should  "make 
a  note  of."  It  would  serve  to  steady  a  man  and 
make   him    less   vacillating.      It   would   move 

123 


Parables  for  the  People 

him  in  one  direction  and  give  him  the  sense 
of  progress,  which  is  very  agreeable.  How  fine 
to  have  a  motive  as  constant  as  the  law  of  God 
and  as  consistent  as  the  divine  will !  If  love 
moves  God,  and  if  love  ought  to  move  men, 
then  men,  Christian  men,  Spirit-bom  men 
have  a  motive  like  God,  which  does  not  vary 
from  age  to  age.  No  one  will  take  this  to  be 
the  fabled  fountain  of  youth,  but  it  looks  much, 
like  a  real  fountain  ever  open  and  ever  refresh- 
ing to  the  aspiring  spirit  of  man.  From  this 
point  of  view  the  immortality  of  the  soul  looks 
like  a  fact  of  science,  a  principle  of  philosophy, 
and  a  truth  of  religion,  each  separately  and  all 
three  together,  a  sort  of  trinity  of  truth  in 
which  reason  and  faith  can  together  rest  and 
rejoice. 

The  man  who  forever  has  motive  will  forever 
have  motion.  He  will  forever  live  and  move 
and  have  his  being.  He  cannot  drop  out  of 
existence  or  sink  down  in  decay  and  despair. 
He  will  not  drift  helplessly  into  inaction  and 
unconsciousness,  but  will  live  consciously  and 
forever.  His  life  is  his  inheritance,  eternal  life, 
eternal  in  quality  and  so  in  duration.  He  has 
motive  and  motion  and  belongs  to  the  invisible 
as  well  as  the  visible,  since  each  is  his  by  actual 
possession,  and  since  his  life  requires  them 
both  for  its  completion. 

124 


Motive  and  Motion 

God  is  love  and  so  God  lives,  and  if  the  good 
man  loves  he  lives  also.  He  loves  the  eternal 
God,  the  invisible  God,  and  his  life  is  eternal 
and  invisible,  being  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 
Behind  the  motions  of  his  body  and  mind  lies 
the  master  motive  in  his  heart  and  in  the  heart 
of  our  Father  who  art  in  heaven.  Oh,  the 
egotism  of  evil,  which  tries  to  be  satisfied  with 
itself !  In  the  realm  of  human  character,  noth- 
ing is  more  impressive  except  the  humility  of 
a  true  Christian.  This  egotism  proves  to  be 
very  tenacious  of  life  and  undertakes  to  be  ever- 
lasting and  even  eternal  or  self-existent.  Be- 
cause of  it  sinful  men  think  you  are  interfering 
with  their  rights  when  you  interfere  with  their 
wrongs.  Evil  shall  slay  the  wicked,  but  a 
wicked  man  might  be  expected  to  make  sure  of 
his  escape  from  a  destroyer  who  lies  in  wait 
for  him.  Love  may  become  his  motive,  his 
principle,  his  life,  but  only  as  he  cheerfully 
^ives  it  place  in  his  breast.  Truth  cannot  be 
<3aptured  and  caged  like  a  bird,  but  it  can  be 
won  like  a  friend,  loved  like  an  equal,  and 
obeyed  like  a  superior.  Each  and  every  one 
must  therefore  look  upon  the  Christ  till  he  sees 
God  for  himself. 

If  we  considered  the  religion  of  the  Christ 
the  universal  religion,  the  universal  philosophy, 
and  the  universal  science,  then  we  would  con- 

125 


Parables  for  the  People 

sider  it  the  universal  duty  of  men  to  become 
Christians.  So  far  as  truth  is  concerned, 
Christianity  is  all-inclusive,  and  the  knowledge 
that  is  not  true  is  scarcely  worth  knowing.  Men 
worship  somewhere.  Every  man  bows  at  some 
shrine,  serves  some  master,  accepts  some  revela- 
tion of  God.  The  Christian  sees  God  in  the 
Christ,  accepts  the  Christ  as  his  Master,  and 
worships  God  as  revealed  by  him.  He  lives 
next  to  the  Christ  on  one  side,  next  to  the  Holy 
Spirit.  God  is  his  nearest  neighbor,  and  there- 
fore the  good  man  says  concerning  himself, 
"The  lines  are  fallen  unto  me  in  pleasant 
places;  I  have  a  goodly  heritage." 

The  Christian  has  the  sweet  sense  of  Another 
who  enters  the  inner  circle  of  his  life  as  the 
Soul  of  his  soul  and  relieves  it  of  its  burden 
and  loneliness.  Life  is  no  longer  the  mystery 
it  was  to  him,  a  maze  in  which  he  wanders,  dark 
with  the  shadows  of  sin  and  final  reckoning, 
but  ever  more  wonderful  on  account  of  its 
known  facts,  because  of  divine  grace  and  provi- 
dence, and  by  reason  of  divine  promises  which 
gather  in  themselves  his  past  and  present  and 
future.  The  one  real  mystery  that  remains  is 
that  of  divine  love,  which  proves  to  be  inex- 
haustible in  its  freshness  and  fullness  of  life. 
As  he  ascends  step  by  step  the  mountain-side 
of  worthy  motive,  he  finds  himself  in  the  com- 

126 


Motive  and  Motion 

pany  of  good  men  and  the  good  Spirit.  He 
learns  the  lesson  Philip  had  missed  and  sees 
God  in  Christ.  He  begins  to  say  with  Paul, 
"It  is  no  longer  I  that  live,  but  Christ  liveth  in 
me";  to  understand  the  words  of  Jesus:  "As 
the  Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you. 
It  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit  of  your 
Father  that  speaketh  in  you,  and  to  hear  what 
the  Spirit  saith  to  the  churches/'  He  has  the 
sense  of  Another  who  is  as  real  to  him  to-day 
as  the  visible  Christ  was  real  to  the  men  of  his 
age;  as  real  as  the  presence  of  God  in  Christ 
was  real  to  his  first  disciples  after  his  resurrec- 
tion; as  real  as  the  wind  that  fans  his  cheek, 
the  river  that  flows  so  majestically  before  his 
eyes,  or  the  brook  to  which  he  listens  as  it 
gurgles  through  the  meadow. 


127 


The  Sense  of  God. 

In  a  quiet  hour  there  came  to  me 

A  sense  of  God  as  good; 
More  sweet  tlian  ever  before  I  knew, 
And  truer  to  me  than  ever  true; 
So  sweet  and  so  true,  and  yet  so  new. 

The  sense  of  God  as  good. 

In  a  trying  hour  there  came  to  me 

A  sense  of  God  as  wise; 
Who  ruled  my  heart  with  a  gentle  hand, 
And  led  me  away  from  the  sinking  sand, 
And  bound  me  close  with  an  unseen  band. 
The  sense  of  God  as  wise; 

In  a  trustful  hour  there  came  to  me 

A  sense  of  God  as  near. 
My  God  was  great  and  my  God  was  good, 
And  came  to  my  heart,  and  there  he  stood 
While  I  bent  low,  as  any  one  would. 

When  God,  my  God  was  near. 

In  a  holy  hour  there  came  to  me 

A  sense  of  God  as  love; 
And  with  it  came  such  a  sense  of  rest 
As  human  tongue  has  never  expressed. 
But  belongs  to  those  whom  God  has  blessed 

With  th'  sense  of  God  as  love. 

In  a  happy  hour  there  came  to  me 

A  sense  of  God  as  life; 
A  vision  arose  upon  my  soul. 
The  brightest  ever  I  saw  unroll; 
The  vision  of  life  as  one  great  whole; 

And  God,  my  God  was  life. 


128 


Sweet  Rest 


■  jforegleam* 

There  are  words  that  aid  us  to  ascend  like  the 
successive  rungs  of  a  ladder.  Each  word  keeps 
its  own  place,  hut  each  one  invites  us  to  rest  our 
thoughts  on  the  next  higher  in  the  ascending 
series.  Our  physical  life  is  marked  by  birth,  and 
growth,  and  maturity,  while  our  Christian  life  be- 
gins with  repentance  and  faith  and  regeneration. 
Two  words  may  complete  the  unit  of  thought — 
as  night  and  day,  sorrow  and  joy,  toil  and  rest. 
No  man  rests  satisfied  in  one  half  or  one  third 
of  these  units  of  life,  but  requires  the  complete 
whole  for  his  completion.  For  the  Christian  these 
units  grow  greater  and  never  less,  and  among  the 
words  that  abide  he  finds  faith,  and  hope,  and  love, 
holiness,  and  happiness,  and  heaven. 


130 


©toeet  Wim 

The  first  words  of  a  little  child  linger  long 
in  the  memory  of  fond  fathers-  and  mothers. 
Instinct  enables  it  to  let  them  know  its  needs, 
but  when  its  pleasure  is  expressed  by  a  smile 
and  its  sense  of  another  by  the  words  "papa'^ 
and  "mamma,"  the  development  of  its  mind  has 
already  begun,  and  also  its  education.  Those 
first  words  are  not  merely  sounds,  sweet  and 
musical,  but  also  evidences  of  training  and 
first-fruits  of  individuality.  They  cannot  be 
counterfeited,  and  however  imperfectly  spoken 
are  perfectly  understood  and  perfectly  lovely. 
They  show  three  very  important  things — the 
child's  capacity  for  thought  and  speech,  his 
adaptation  to  the  conditions  of  life,  and  his 
ability  to  realize  the  great  end  of  his  existence. 

A  word,  like  a  tripod,  rests  securely  on  three 
legs,  being  spoken  by  some  one  to  or  for  some 
one  and  about  some  one  or  some  thing.  Like 
carrier  pigeons,  they  are  the  messengers  of 
some  mind  to  some  other  mind,  telling  of  per- 
sons and  things  and  thoughts.  The  snail  leaves 
traces  of  its  course  across  the  rock,  but  the  bird 

131 


Parables  for  the  People 

in  its  flight  and  the  ocean  liner  in  its  voyage 
make  no  beaten  track.  Many  a  movement  of 
the  mind  remains  "unrecorded  outside  of  the 
thinking  mind  itself,  bnt  here  and  there  a  rec- 
ord is  made  in  the  words  and  sentences  and 
chapters  of  a  book  which  becomes  the  banks  of 
a  stream  on  whose  current  the  reader  may  wish 
to  float. 

Two  questions  concern  the  reader:  Who  is 
the  author  ?  and.  What  is  his  philosophy  ?  What 
is  the  meaning  of  his  words  and  sentences  and 
chapters?  Through  the  words  of  a  friend, 
spoken  or  written,  we  easily  see  his  thought  and 
himself.  His  expressions  are  adapted  to  our 
joy  or  sorrow,  our  needs,  and  even  our  preju- 
dices and  personal  limitations,  and  we  are  won 
to  the  cause  of  truth,  and  never  error,  let  us 
cheerfully  hope,  by  the  tact  and  sympathy  that 
thinly  veil  the  one  whom  we  are  glad  to  claim 
as  our  friend.  Words  call  out  another  mind  in 
response  and  become  the  channel  of  communi- 
cation both  ways. 

The  relation  of  words  to  things  is  less  inti- 
mate, if  not  less  real.  Words  spring  from  the 
mind  and  not  from  the  things,  but  are  to  rep- 
resent or  recall  to  the  mind  tangible  things  and 
even  intangible  thoughts.  The  grammarian 
finds  eight  kinds  in  common  use,  the  lexicog- 
rapher tells  us  what  they  all  mean,  and   the 

132 


Sweet  Rest 

philologist  traces  them  up  in  literature  and 
history  to  their  origin.  These  three  public 
servants  are  held  in  honor  for  their  work's 
sake,  but  never  discredit  or  supplant  experi- 
ence as  a  teacher  by  whom  word  and  thing  are 
linked  together  in  the  mind,  the  former  being 
made  as  nearly  as  possible  the  true  representa- 
tive of  the  latter.  In  short,  a  man  must  rely 
upon  himself  to  learn  what  words  stand  for 
and  what  men  mean  by  them.  He  may  know 
what  they  ordinarily  mean  and  what  they  ought 
to  mean,  but  to  know  what  they  do  mean  in  a 
given  case  he  must  get  back  to  their  author, 
whether  an  infant  in  arms,  an  associate  in  life, 
a  scientist  or  a  philosopher,  a  politician  or  a 
statesman,  a  man  of  affairs  or  a  man  of  God, 
or  even  God  himself  speaking  by  his  prophets 
in  the  earlier  age  of  revelation  or  by  his  Son 
in  the  later  age. 

II. 

The  power  of  speech,  man's  present  and 
presumably  his  permanent  possession,  and  the 
power  of  song,  are  two  great  common  gifts 
conferred  upon  high  and  low,  and  offer  a  nat- 
ural basis  for  cosmopolitan  feeling  and  fellow- 
ship. Eeligion,  and  especially  the  religion  of 
the  Bible,  has  furnished  themes  and  inspira- 
tion for  the  musician  and  the  orator,  and  both 

133 


Parahles  for  the  People 

might  be  expected  to  look  forward  like  prophets 
to  heaven  as  their  proper  paradise.  Shall  not 
words  have  their  best  meaning  there  and  music 
its  grandest  illustrations? 

If  beings  are  more  glorious  in  heaven  than 
on  earth,  if  the  spirit  of  man  is  more  then  than 
now,  if  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  sur- 
pass those  we  now  enjoy,  glorified  men  must 
have  larger  molds  of  thought  and  forms  of 
expression.  Language  and  music  must  keep 
pace  with  unfolding  life.  Excellence  of  char- 
acter may  there  appear  in  the  face  without  the 
aid  of  voice  or  act,  and  personality  free  from 
the  limiting  power  of  evil  must  expand  unhin- 
dered, while  its  simplicity  renders  it  intelligible 
to  one  of  like  nature,  but  we  may  well  wonder 
what  power  of  articulate  and  musical  ex- 
pression and  enjoyment  will  belong  to  such  a 
being.  If  goodness  is  greatness  and  human 
life  has  no  external  limits,  man's  future  means 
increased  capacity  to  receive  from  others  and 
express  his  own  mind.  Here  human  language 
will  have  its  last  evolution  and  be  adapted  to 
human  need,  for  the  third  time  attaining  per- 
fection as  regards  the  speaker,  the  one  spoken 
to,  and  the  truth  declared. 

National  life  shows  in  music  as  well  as  in 
language,  a  fact  that  will  remain  perhaps  till 
one  song  is  sung  and  one  tongue  is  spoken  in 

134 


Sweet  Rest 

the  kingdom  of  God.  Written  in  two  lan- 
guages, the  Bible  is  being  translated  into  many, 
and  may  yet  bring  them  all  into  one  again  by 
means  of  its  ideas  and  ideals,  which  are  not 
ethnic,  but  universal.  Attempts  to  popularize 
a  universal  language,  however  scientific  in  con- 
struction, have  proved  abortive.  No  mother 
ever  taught  the  scientific  language  to  her 
child.  Science  cannot  undo  what  God  did  by 
means  of  the  confusion  of  tongues,  for  God 
only  can  save  and  unify  the  race.  His  is  the 
gift  of  language  as  of  life,  and  both  are  fairly 
mysterious  to  man.  Wise  men  can  trace  words 
to  their  roots  and  learn  much  they  wanted  to 
know  and  about  an  equal  amount  they  might 
as  well  not  know;  they  may  insist  on  reading 
the  whole  history  of  the  past  out  of  the  struc- 
ture of  words,  only  to  find  that  language  is  still 
very  confusing;  for  lo,  the  cherished  theory  of 
one  learned  man  is  ruthlessly  overthrown  by 
another  only  a  little  more  learned  or  who  has 
had  the  good  fortune  to  live  a  little  later,  when 
newly  discovered  facts  of  history  laid  low  the 
theory  created  with  so  much  care,  its  only  re- 
maining use  being  as  a  monument  to  the  indus- 
try and  ingenuity  and  also  the  folly  of  its 
inventor  and  advocate. 

Adam  scarcely  appears  as  a  schoolboy,  but 
rather  as  a  school-teacher,  when  he  names  the 

135 


Parables  for  the  People 

animals  Just  as  men  to-day  name  things  they 
discover,  an  element  in  chemistry,  an  island  in 
the  ocean,  or  an  asteroid  in  space,  and  the  first 
man  filled  his  place  about  as  well  as  the  last, 
so  far  as  we  know.  Language  is  a  gift  to  be 
called  forth  and  cultivated  in  the  child  and 
also  in  the  man.  Both  learn  the  language  of 
earth  and  both  should  master  the  language  of 
duty  and  devotion,  of  prayer  and  praise,  of  the 
Bible  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Here,  for 
the  second  time,  inspiration  becomes  a  neces- 
sity in  order  that  men  may  understand  the 
inspired  Word  of  God,  which  is  inspired  because 
it  is  the  language  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  because 
it  is  the  text-book  of  the  spirit  of  man  when 
under  the  tuition  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and 
because  it  is  the  universal  language  of  the  spirit 
of  man,  by  means  of  which  the  divine  thought 
and  purpose  are  adequately  conveyed  to  the 
individual  and  the  race. 

The  religious  linguist  of  to-day  must  go  to 
the  original  sources  and  compare  his  spiritual 
experiences  with  those  of  prophet  and  apostle, 
and  above  all  with  those  of  the  Christ.  Every 
man  must  open  his  eyes  and  see  for  himself. 
He  must  grasp  the  facts  by  his  own  power  of 
apprehension  and  learn  the  nature  of  these  spir- 
itual realities.  Men  must  become  children  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  learn  its  life  and  its 

136 


Sweet  Rest 

language.  How  else  can  they  expect  to  know 
the  worth  of  its  words  or  the  sweetness  of  its 
music  ?  The  alphabet  of  this  heavenly  language 
is  within  the  knowledge  of  every  one  of  us,  in 
the  keeping  of  every  Christian  who  should  have 
an  ear  for  the  heavenly  music  and  a  heart  for 
the  sacred  accomplishments  of  noble  thought 
and  speech  and  song,  bringing  him  into  real 
fellowship  with  apostle  and  prophet  or  even  an 
angel  from  heaven  coming  announced  or  un- 
awares. 

III. 

Whatsoever  things  God  prepared  for  them 
that  love  him;  things  wliich  eye  saw  not  and 
ear  heard  not,  and  which  entered  not  into  the 
heart  of  man,  God  revealed  to  us  through  the 
Spirit,  who  becomes  more  than  eyes,  more  than 
ears,  more  than  the  heart,  however  much  these 
may  be  to  us,  and  literally  confers  upon  us 
spiritual  powers  corresponding  with  our  spir- 
itual needs.  As  the  Bible  is  inspired  so  the 
Christian  is  inspired,  for  "it  is  not  ye  that 
speak,  but  the  Spirit  of  your  Father  that  speak- 
eth  in  you/'  No  wonder  Christian  hope  reaches 
out  confidently  to  the  future  and  inspired  men 
labor  assiduously  to  tell  us  of  the  golden  age 
of  mankind,  which  they  all  with  one  voice  place 
in  the  future. 

137 


Parables  for  the  People 

John's  vision  on  the  lonely  isle  of  Patmos 
impresses  iis  more  perhaps  than  it  instructs  us. 
There  is  a  superincumbent  weight  of  glory  that 
presses  close  to  the  narrow  gateway  of  ex- 
pression. He  sees  a  city  unlike  those  of  earth, 
its  length  and  height  and  breadth  being  equal, 
as  the  place  of  perfection,  having  twelve  foun- 
dations, symbolizing  security,  and  each  being 
a  precious  stone,  to  prefigure  supreme  moral 
quality.  A  new  social  order  appears  without 
toil  and  strife,  the  river  of  life  and  the  tree  of 
life  indicating  the  satisfaction  of  every  need. 
Men  rest  without  the  darkness  of  night  and 
worship  without  the  aid  of  a  temple.  They 
belong  to  the  company  of  the  redeemed  of  all 
ages  and  mingle  with  angels  in  companionship 
and  song.  They  know  God  as  revealed  in 
Christ;  they  see  his  face,  and  his  name  is  in 
their  foreheads.  The  divine  image  is  restored 
in  its  beauty  and  perfection,  and  their  life  rises 
to  the  level  of  heaven,  where  the  will  of  God 
is  the  undisputed  law  and  the  presence  of  Christ 
an  everlasting  gospel. 

The  book  of  Revelation  naturally  stands  at 
the  end  of  the  New  Testament  as  the  sequel 
of  the  gospel.  In  its  descriptions  of  heaven 
and  the  heavenly  life  there  is  symbolism  and 
there  is  truth,  and  the  truth  is  net  less  than 
the  symbol  used  to  represent  it,  as  heaven  is 

138 


Sweet  Rest 

not  less  than  earth,  but  unspeakably  greater. 
Faith  always  attends  school  where  the  Spirit 
of  God  is  the  teacher,  learning  the  lesson  of 
the  life  that  now  is  and  in  germ  and  essence 
of  that  which  is  to  come,  and  clinging  to  the 
Bible  because  it 

Lifts  the  veil  that  hides  the  day 
That  shall  never  pass  away. 

Nor  should  we  ever  carlessly  confuse  faith 
and  fancy  or  imagination,  though  we  love  our 
imagination  as  we  love  our  eyes,  since  it  en- 
ables us  to  conceive,  combine,  and  picture.  But 
imagination  is  one  faculty  of  the  mind,  while 
faith  is  the  whole  man  relying  upon  God. 
Imagination  has  first  place  in  the  mind  of  the 
reader  and  writer  of  fiction,  and  no  man  can 
reasonably  expect  to  be  lifted  above  its  source 
by  reading  this  kind  of  literature.  Fiction 
signally  fails  as  a  teacher  of  conscience  and 
reason  and  will,  and  yet  only  as  these  elements 
enter  into  it  does  fiction  rise  to  the  level  of 
real  life.  In  its  lighter  movements,  imagina- 
tion is  called  fancy,  and  who  would  mistake 
fancy  for  faith?  Faith  removes  mountains. 
Faith  overcomes  the  world  that  tempts  and 
allures  and  deludes;  that  holds  men  and  women 
in  slavery  till  liberated  by  its  victory.  Fancy 
has  no  such  power  and  can  point  to  no  such 

139 


Parables  for  the  People 

victory.  It  cannot  rise  to  God  like  faith,  which 
is  the  assurance  of  things  hoped  for,  a  convic- 
tion of  things  not  seen.  Imagination  resem- 
bles the  long  feelers  of  the  grandfather-long- 
legs,  which  are  longer  than  his  legs  and  always 
in  motion,  while  faith  is  like  his  legs,  bearing 
him  along  with  his  knees  above  his  head  and 
his  body  swinging  securely  below  as  in  a  ham- 
mock. Faith  has  the  sense  of  God  and  the 
future  like  a  prophet,  wings  to  rise  and  soar 
like  an  eagle,  arms  to  grasp  the  truth  like  a 
giant,  and  courage  like  a  soldier  to  contend 
earnestly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the 
saints. 

A  man  without  eyes  might  be  expected  to 
question  God's  ability  to  create  an  organ  in 
the  human  body  capable  of  observing  an  oak 
half  a  mile  away,  a  mountain  ten  miles  dis- 
tant, the  moon  240,000  miles,  or  the  sun  and 
stars  separated  many  millions  of  miles  from 
the  observer;  but  after  using  a  pair  of  eyes 
of  divine  construction,  any  man  should  have 
faith  in  God's  ability  easily  rising  to  the  point 
of  a  settled  belief.  In  all  candor  we  should 
accord  to  Christian  faith  this  same  certainty 
after  as  many  years  of  use  and  testing  of  its 
power  of  spiritual  vision  and  victory  over  evil. 
The  eyes  and  ears  of  fancy  report  the  sounds 
and  symbolism  of  Eevelation,  while  faith  per- 

140 


*  Sweet  Rest 

ceives  there  as  everywhere  the  mind  of  the 
Spirit  and  sees  through  the  little  imagery  of 
earth  the  greater  life  of  heaven. 


IV. 

Solomon  complains  in  Ecclesiastes  of  the 
emptiness  of  things,  while  John  in  Eevelation 
finds  language  too  poor  to  express  his  meaning. 
He  calls  to  his  aid  bold  figures  of  speech,  im- 
pressive imagery,  and  symbolic  descriptions  in 
his  effort  to  record  in  human  language  what 
he  saw  in  heavenly  vision,  and  expected  to  see 
again  in  all  its  bold  and  beautiful  reality. 
Eight  action  leads  on  to  settled  rest — not  the 
rest  of  inaction,  but  the  rest  of  harmony, 
when  life  answers  to  environment  and  environ- 
ment to  life,  when  man  is  at  one  with  himself 
and  with  all  who  have  a  place  in  the  kingdom 
of  God.  The  rest  of  heaven  is  the  rest  of  faith, 
the  rest  of  the  soul  supported  at  its  center  of 
gravity.  With  this,  great  central  fact  estab- 
lished, a  hundred  others  follow  easily,  and  John 
is  scientific  as  well  as  prophetic,  logical  as  well 
as  theological.  The  language  of  God's  king- 
dom grows  in  meaning,  while  that  of  the  world 
wanes  and  withers.  The  man  who  loves  the 
world  feels  the  force  of  Solomon's  complaint, 
while  the  man  who  loves  the  Father  appreci- 

141 


Parables  for  the  People 

ates  the  heroic  effort  of  John  to  express 
thoughts  almost  beyond  the  power  of  human 
language  to  represent  or  the  human  mind  to 
comprehend. 

As  men  advance  in  years  they  perceive  a 
growing  sense  of  the  shortness  of  time.  What 
does  it  mean?  The  clock  ticks  no  faster.  Be- 
cause men  are  occupied  does  time  seem  short 
as  measured  by  the  demands  of  business?  Or 
does  the  approach  of  eternity  cause  men  to  lose 
the  sense  of  time,  or  rather  their  approach  to 
that  state  where  time  gives  place  to  eternity? 
There  are  no  clocks  in  heaven  and  no  mileposts, 
and  no  man  need  misread  this  lesson  of  his  life, 
that  space  and  time  become  less  to  him  and 
may  even  disappear  altogether  as  conditions 
of  his  life. 

Death  is  a  great  awakener.  Some  men  get 
ready  for  the  cemetery  before  they  prepare  for 
heaven.  Their  development  is  one-sided.  They 
are  harvested  by  death  while  they  are  still  sin- 
ful and  sour.  When  his  body  and  spirit  dis- 
solve their  present  partnership,  a  man  pays 
the  last  installment  and  closes  the  account  with 
this  world,  whether  his  years  have  been  many 
or  few,  and  whether  his  life  has  been  a  profit- 
able or  an  unprofitable  venture. 

In  the  three-cornered  game  of  life,  every 
man  should  often  ask  himself.  Is  it  my  next 

142 


Sweet  Rest 

move?  Satan  has  moved  early  and  often,  and 
half  unknown  to  many  a  player  God  has  moved. 
He  has  sent  his  Son  and  his  Holy  Spirit,  and 
while  men  ought  to  wait  on  God,  God  actually 
waits  on  men,  lest  the  game  should  end  and 
man  be  the  loser.  If  now  any  man  has  no  lurk- 
ing fear  that  some  day  he  may  find  something 
better  than  the  gospel,  some  other  and  better 
Savior  than  the  Christ,  he  can  at  once  commit 
himself  to  the  Christ  for  time  and  for  eternity. 
.He  can  consecrate  himself  from  the  center  of 
his  being  to  the  circumference  and  be  at  rest. 

How  reassuring  it  is  to  know  that  every 
good  resolution,  every  act  of  faith  by  which  a 
man  commits  himself  to  Christ  remains  vital 
and  operative  like  the  promises  by  which  God 
commits  himself  to  man.  Behind  such  a  man 
lies  an  accumulation  of  character  and  purpose 
like  the  water  in  a  mill-dam,  while  before  him 
opens  a  future  safe  in  the  keeping  of  Him 
who  said,  "I  have  set  before  thee  a  door  opened, 
which  none  can  shut."  The  words  of  this  man 
must  grow  greater  in  meaning  as  his  life  deep- 
ens and  widens  and  as  its  current  is  concen- 
trated in  its  proper  channel  and  continually 
moves  onward,  never  returning  upon  itself  in 
the  inevitable  eddies  of  egotism.  He  cannot  be 
pessimistic,  but  must  be  optimistic  in  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  nor  is  his  optimism  of  the 

143 


Parables  for  the  People 

bulletin-board  variety.  He  develops  under  the 
law  of  life  and  not  under  the  law  of  necessity, 
his  inner  impulse  being  sufficient  to  resist  every 
outer  force  that  threatens  to  crush  it  and  suffi- 
cient also  to  realize  the  ends  of  its  own  exist- 
ence. If  the  Christian  of  the  Johannine  type 
be  accepted  as  a  fact,  then  the  heaven  described 
by  John  is  a  foregone  conclusion.  If  the  gos- 
pel is  received  as  true,  then  reason  unites  with 
faith  in  asserting  its  proper  sequel  in  the  vision 
of  Patmos. 

y. 

We  have  here  no  abiding  city.  Cities  last 
longer  than  their  occupants,  and  men  reluc- 
tantly relinquish  their  palaces  and  possessions, 
their  rights  and  titles.  They  are  defendants  in 
a  suit  in  ejectment  in  which  the  case  is  sure 
to  go  against  them  and  be  followed  by  an  un- 
conditional ouster.  Precedents  for  a  thousand 
years,  personal  observation  in  as  many  in- 
stances, and  the  Word  of  God  which  endures 
forever  speak  in  concert  and  also  in  order  as 
independent  witnesses  establisliing  beyond  a 
peradventure  this  fact  which  has  a  disquieting 
effect  on  the  minds  of  men  who  are  irreligious 
and  also  candid  and  thoughtful. 

Perhaps  every  soul  has  at  some  time  doubted 
whether  the  Bible  is  indeed  God's  Word,  but 

144 


Sweet  Rest 

that  time  was  not  when  a  de^ir  friend  lay 
speechless  in  death,  and  no  word  of  comfort 
soothed  its  sorrow  till  some  word  from  that 
Book  brought  real  relief.  The  truth  was  calm 
and  consoling  and  its  sweetness  conquered  bit- 
ter grief  and  lifted  hope  to  her  feet  again. 
There  that  soul  became  sure  that  the  Bible  is 
the  Word  of  God.  It  was  true  then,  more  than 
literature,  more  than  history,  more  than 
poetry,  more  than  philosophy.  It  spoke  like* 
a  voice  to  the  troubled  spirit,  and  one  listener 
at  least  heard  and  knew  that  it  was  the  voice 
of  God. 

The  Bible  shows  us  the  Christ  passing  up 
through  human  life  from  infancy  to  mature 
manhood  and  filling  it  with  his  own  ideal  and 
measure  of  worth.  He  teaches  us  how  to  dwell 
in  society  and  also  that  there  is  no  solitude  for 
a  good  man.  He  redeems  us  in  our  individual 
and  social  life,  saving  us  from  the  narrowness 
of  bigotry  on  the  one  hand  and  on  the  other 
from  degenerating  into  the  careless  crowd  who 
drift  like  fragments  in  a  river.  He  saves  our 
individualism  and  our  socialism,  which  go  to 
seed  separately  if  left  alone,  or  go  to  hell  to- 
gether, which  is  the  place  without  God  and 
without  hope.  Christian  individualism  and 
Christian,  socialism  belong  to  one  ideal,  and 
the   Christian  is   the  only  citizen,   if  not  the 

10  145 


Parables  for  the  People 

only  candidate  for  a  place  in  the  new  social 
order  called  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Men  must  be  sorted  like  apples  and  potatoes, 
since  one  bad  man,  like  one  bad  apple,  may 
spoil  a  dozen  good  ones.  The  David  of  old 
said,  "Deal  gently  with  my  son,"  but  the  David 
of  to-day  says,  "Deal  gently  with  my  sin." 
Julia  Ward  Howe  says : 

God  is  sifting  out  the  hearts  of  men  before  his 

judgment-seat. 
Be  swift  my  soul  to  answer  liim;   be  jubilant  my 

feet; 

Our  God  is  marching  on. 

His  machinery  is  in  motion  and  a  hundred 
sieves  shake  down  their  products  in  separate 
heaps.  Tested  by  one  and  another  all  the  way 
through  the  list,  pleasure  and  place,  honor  and 
wealth,  each  man  passes  on  and  every  one  finds 
his  own  place.  The  worldly  man  adjusts  him- 
self to  his  world  and  the  Christian  man  to  his 
world.  There  the  one  remains  and  there  the 
other  rests  when  the  word  is  spoken,  "He  that 
is  unrighteous  let  him  do  unrighteousness  still : 
and  he  that  is  filthy  let  him  be  made  filthy  still : 
and  he  that  is  righteous  let  him  do  righteous- 
ness still:  and  he  that  is  holy  let  him  be  made 
holy  still." 

The  Christian  is  learning  the  language  of 
heaven,  and  if  by  chance  he  heard  the  song 

146 


Sweet  Best 

of  the  redeemed  in  glory  he  would  cry  out, 
"That  is  my  song."  His  is  the  language  of 
obedience  and  divine  life,  and  why  should  he 
not  claim  citizenship  in  heaven?  There  he 
will  be  at  home  and  at  rest,  the  rest  of  perfect 
adjustment  of  his  mind  to  the  object  of  life  as 
conceived  by  the  Divine  Mind,  of  perfect  har- 
mony in  himself  as  created  in  the  image  of 
God  and  renewed  by  the  atonement  of  Christ, 
of  complete  correspondence  with  his  environ- 
ment as  divinely  appointed,  so  that  wherever 
God  manifests  his  personal  presence  there  is 
rest  for  him,  there  is  heaven. 

Why  should  any  man  miss  the  meaning  of 
life?  He  might  miss  his  calling,  but  not  his 
call,  which  comes  as  a  voice  from  heaven.  A 
world  furnished  to  his  hand  is  given  to  him  in 
which  to  live  and  choose  and  work  out  his 
destiny.  Another  and  another  opens  to  his 
knock  and  his  request  to  enter.  Many  paths 
invite  him,  but  he  makes  choice  of  the  one  he 
prefers  to  follow.  An  ideal  rises  before  him  to 
be'  deciphered  by  his  own  mind  and  realized  by 
his  own  efforts  aided  by  other  agencies  seen 
and  unseen.  His  method  of  labor  becomes  his 
method  of  life,  and  even  of  being  itself,  guid- 
ing his  steps  and  keeping  him  true  to  himself. 
In  his  heart  he  carries  his  governing  principle, 
like  the  testimony  kept  in  the  Ark  of  the  Cov- 

147 


Parables  for  the  People 

enantj  and  his  impelling  naotive,  which  may 
and  should  be  the  same  that  moves  and  guides 
the  divine  will.  As  long  as  love  abides  in  him 
he  has  heart  and  courage  for  life  and  labor 
and  all  things.  Love  never  fails  and  never 
ceases.  Sweet  rest  is  his  present  possession  and 
is  sure  to  be  his  future  inheritance,  the  rest  of 
faith,  the  faith  that  sustains  the  center  of  the 
man  now  and  points  forward  and  leads  onward 
to  a  permanent  relation  to  God  and,  as  a  neces- 
sary consequence,  to  perpetual  rest. 

To  such  a  man  the  camel  cannot  come  into 
comparison  with  the  Christ,  who  is  easily 
supreme,  who  plainly  proves  his  right  to  rule, 
who  is  never  less  but  always  greater  in  life  and 
leadership.  To  such  a  man  Christianity  cannot 
come  into  comparison  with  other  religions,  thus 
forming  a  basis  for  a  higher  generalization  and 
even  a  new  religion,  but  is  itself  the  one  true 
religion  that  vindicates  man  as  a  creature  and 
God  as  his  creator  at  the  bar  of  reason,  that 
undertakes  single-handed  and  alone  to  make 
men  worthy  in  fact,  that  sets  forth  human  na- 
ture and  human  life  in  all  its  parts,  body,  soul, 
and  spirit;  past,  present,  and  future;  visible 
and  invisible.  To  such  a  man,  life  means  much 
now  and  much  more  hereafter.  It  cannot  mean 
less  in  itself,  in  its  relation  to  a  greater  world, 
and  in  its  relation  to  God.    Like  the  Christ,  the 

148 


Sweet  Rest 

Christian  increases  and  the  line  of  his  develop- 
ment is  determined  by  Christ,  who  is  his  ideal 
and  his  motive.  Philip's  dullness  of  percep- 
tion must  be  overcome  by  the  Christian  of 
to-day  till  he  sees  God  in  Christ,  and  the  doubt 
of  Thomas  changed  into  living  faith,  so  that 
he  knows  God  in  the  Holy  Spirit  and  addresses 
him  in  the  memorable  words,  "My  Lord  and 
my  God";  the  words  of  faith  and  reason,  of 
duty  and  devotion;  the  words  of  sweet  spiritual 
childhood  which  assure  us  of  three  important 
things — the  Christian's  capacity  for  spiritual 
life,  his  adaptation  to  its  conditions,  and  his 
ability  to  realize  the  great  end  of  his  existence. 


149 


The  Capital  of  the  Universe. 

With   foundations,  twelve  foundations, 
Stands  the  city,  fair  and  bright; 

Life  and  beauty,  God's  creations, 
Glow  with  wisdom,  love,  and  might. 

Nations  gathered  with  the  angels, 
Hosts  of  earth  and  hosts  of  sky; 

Loud  hosannas,  sweet  evangels, 
Whis'pring  low  and  rising  high. 

River  flowing,  ever  flowing. 

Where  the  shadows  never  fall; 

Light  a-glowing,  ever  glowing, 
Where  our  God  is  all  in  all. 

Tree  of  life  and  temple  holy, 
God  in  Christ  the  saint  shall  see. 

Spirits  great  that  once  were  lowly; 
Happy  place  for  man  to  be. 

Waiting  crowns  and  coronations. 
Promised  now  and  given  then; 

When  we  reach  the  twelve  foundations, 
Happy  souls  of  ransomed  men. 


150 


